The effect of a video-based COVID-19 paediatric patient education on state anxiety in children with suspected COVID-19 admitted to hospital

BACKGROUND: Anxiety causes the long-term psychological impacts on children during the pandemic. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to reduce anxiety in paediatric patients and increase their adherence to treatment through a video-based COVID-19 paediatric patient education. METHODS: This quasi-experimental study with pretest–posttest single group was carried out in a research hospital’s COVID-19 Paediatric Emergency Area in Turkey between May and August 2020. The sample consisted of 128 children aged between 4 and 12 years. RESULTS: In the study, it was found that 50.8% of the children who came to the COVID- 19 Paediatric Emergency Area due to suspicion of COVID-19 were boys and their mean age was 8.54 ± 2.62. 21.1% of the children were hospitalised before and 73.4% were afraid of the hospital. State stress scores of the participants before the patient education were higher in those, who didn’t attend school between ages of 4–10, than those who went to school. State stress mean scores of the children from all age groups decreased significantly after the education. CONCLUSIONS: The video-based paediatric patient education decreases the children’s hospital-related anxiety during the pandemic and increased their adherence to treatment.