This study investigated whether clown intervention could reduce preoperative worries and the affective responses of children undergoing minor surgery. Parental anxiety was also tested. Child’s age, previous hospitalization, and temperament were tested as predictors of the child’s responses during this preoperative phase. Seventy children were assigned to one of two groups: children accompanied by their parents and a pair of clowns or, those accompanied by the parents but without the clowns. The results emphasized the relevance of clown intervention on the reduction of preoperative worries and emotional responses, not only in children but also in their parents.

This study developed three types of educational preoperative materials and examined their efficacy in preparing children for surgery by analysing children's preoperative worries and parental anxiety. The sample was recruited from three hospitals in Lisbon and consisted of 125 children, aged 8-12 years, scheduled to undergo outpatient surgery. The participants were randomly assigned to one of the seven independent conditions that were combined into the following three main groups: an experimental group, which received educational materials with information about surgery and hospitalization (a board game, a video or a booklet); a comparison group, which received entertaining material with the same format type; and a control group, which did not receive any material. Children's preoperative worries and parental anxiety were evaluated after the experimental manipulation. Children who received educational materials were significantly less worried about surgery and hospital procedures than children in the comparison and the control groups, although no statistically differences were found between the type of materials within the experimental group, and no significant effect occurred on parental state anxiety. These results do however support the hypothesis that providing preoperative materials with educational information reduce children's preoperative worries.

Surgery is a highly stressful event for children and caregivers. Extensive effort has been made to improve preoperative care in order to alleviate worry about the surgical procedure itself. This study tested the impact of an educational multimedia intervention on the cognitive, emotional, and physiological responses of children undergoing surgery, as well as on parental state anxiety. Children (n = 90) were assigned to three different groups: an educational multimedia intervention (experimental group), an entertainment video game intervention (comparison group), and a control group (no intervention). Children who received the educational multimedia intervention reported lower level of worries about hospitalization, medical procedures, illness, and negative consequences than those in the control and in the comparison groups. Parental state anxiety was also lower in the both the educational and the entertainment video game interventions compared to the control group. These findings suggest that providing information to children regarding medical procedures and hospital rules and routines is important to reduce their preoperative worries, and also relevant for parental anxiety.

The present study sought to contribute to a better understanding of children’s attitudes and behaviors regarding oral health and dental practices. The sample was composed of 101 children (8–10 years), collected from several schools in the Lisbon metropolitan area. Our main goals were to collect a survey of information about the beliefs, attitudes, habits and knowledge of children about oral and dental issues in order to not only have an overview of them but also to serve as a basis and a starting point for the development of intervention programs to increase positive attitudes and behaviors related to oral health and promote greater knowledge about these subjects. In general, children reported positive behaviors regarding dental habits and oral hygiene practices. Children’s opinions and beliefs about dentists were also globally positive; however, the results suggested that younger children reported more positive attitudes, emotions and previous experiences. Regarding children’s knowledge about these dental issues, the results were quite negative and worrying, ruled by ignorance and incorrect beliefs and behaviors. In sum, all the results and conclusions of this study may contribute to the development of educational programs within the scope of the promotion of oral health and hygiene practices—“An Adventure about Oral Health.”

Of the many of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) products, electronic games are considered as having great potential for improving health and

O presente estudo pretende contribuir para a compreensão das atitudes e opiniões das crianças acerca dos cuidados de saúde, com enfoque nos procedimentos médicos, instituições e eficácia dos profissionais. Participaram no estudo 381 crianças, recrutadas em diversas instituições escolares da área de Lisboa. As atitudes mais negativas foram atribuídas às instituições, enquanto as mais positivas incidiram na eficácia dos profissionais. Os procedimentos médicos foram considerados menos dolorosos comparativamente aos potenciais acidentes do quotidiano. Os níveis mais elevados de dor percebida foram reportados pelas crianças do sexo feminino e pelas do 1º ciclo de escolaridade. Os medos médicos mediaram significativamente a relação entre a perceção de dor e as atitudes infantis face aos cuidados de saúde. A maior perceção de dor mostrou estar associada a atitudes mais negativas, porém, esta relação ficou enfraquecida quando contemplados os medos infantis face a temáticas médicas. Em suma, é fundamental poder avaliar as atitudes infantis face aos cuidados de saúde, o que poderá contribuir para o desenvolvimento de programas de intervenção no âmbito da promoção de comportamentos.