Family-Centered Behavioral Preparation for Surgery

Children experience significant anxiety and distress during the preoperative period. Currently available interventions are ineffective and/or associated with significant disadvantages. These interventions exclusively target the child and do not attempt to reduce parental anxiety. Based on an integration of the literature in both the anesthesia and psychological milieus, we developed ADVANCE, a behaviorally oriented anxiety reduction program for children undergoing surgery that targets the family as a whole.