The effect of digital storytelling applied to children in the preoperative period on anxiety and negative emotional behaviours

This study investigated the effects of digital storytelling as a therapeutic intervention in pediatric day surgery on negative emotional behavior and anxiety in a randomized, controlled experimental design. The study was conducted from November 2022 to April 2023 at the outpatient and inpatient otolaryngology clinics of Pamukkale University Hospital, Denizli. The study population consisted of patients admitted to an otolaryngology outpatient clinic for day surgery.The study sample consisted of 72 children (36 study group, 36 control group) who were scheduled for day surgery and met the study inclusion criteria. Study data were collected using the Child Descriptive Information Form, the Children's Emotional Manifestation Scale and the State Anxiety for Children Scale. Additionally, the suitability of the digital storytelling intervention was assessed using the Rating Scale for Digital Stories. In the study group, preparation for day surgery was done with digital storytelling. No intervention was applied to the control group. In the analysis of the research data, using the SPSS 25.0 package program, the significance test of the difference between the two means, Mann Whitney U test, Chi-square test and repeated measures variance analysis was performed. The state anxiety scale mean scores of the study and control groups were homogeneous before the digital storytelling intervention. The State Anxiety score decreased in the study group compared to the follow-up times. The digital storytelling intervention was found to be effective in reducing anxiety scores. The state anxiety score was highest in the control group on the day of surgery. On the day of day surgery, children in the control group experienced higher anxiety than those in the study group. The high anxiety of the children in the control group remained at a higher level than the study group, and continued 2 weeks after the operation. Children in the control group showed more negative emotional behavior on the day of day surgery. The digital storytelling intervention applied in the research was found to be effective in reducing children's anxiety and negative emotional behavior.