School-age children's surgical fears

ABSTRACT

The study included 100 school-age children hospitalized for abdominal surgery and were unaccompanied by their parents. Each child was hospital environment, hospital personnel and surgery itself. The findings showed that the highest percentages of children expressed different fears in relation to surgical operations which were fear of death, pain, change body image, surgical gown, abdominal incision and anesthesia. Children also expressed their fears of injection and laboratory investigations. Hospital environment was a source of fear for the children, where they were afraid of hospital as a strange place, the general view of the hospital at night, darkness and noises. Also, the majority of children expressed their fears of doctors and nurses. The study revealed that females expressed more fears than