Assessment of Parental Distress and Psychiatric Morbidity Before Elective Surgery in a Lagos Teaching Hospital

Background: Paediatric operation has been reported to be stressful not only to the child scheduled for operation but also to the parents and family members. In the absence of detailed information about the impending operation both mother and child may manifest preoperative distress and psychological morbidity. This study was aimed at assessing parental distress and psychiatric morbidity among parents of children scheduled for elective operation in a Lagos Teaching Hospital.
Method: The study took place at paediatric surgery unit of the Department of Surgery of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria. One hundred parents of children scheduled for elective surgery were asked to complete the 12th version of the General Health Questionnaire and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale.
Results: Of the total participants, 47 (47%) scored higher than the cut off with the GHQ indicating that they suffered from psychological distress, while 51 (51%) had probable anxiety and 19 (19%) had depression.
Conclusion: The findings of this study showed a significant level of psychological distress and morbidity among mothers of children undergoing elective surgery. It is therefore suggested that psychosocial assessments of parents should be carried out before paediatric surgery to identify parents with high parental psychiatric morbidity that may need emotional support preoperatively and postoperatively. Parental psychopathology such as anxiety and depression should be a major concern of paediatric surgeons. Failure to attend to this, the paediatric surgeon may lose the essential therapeutic alliance with the parents during the care of their patients.