Purpose: Study has been carried out empirically in order to determine efficiency of education that decreases the anxiety of mothers who would see their children in intensive care unit for the first time after cardiac surgery.
Method: The data were obtained from mothers of 60 inpatient children in department of pediatric in a university hospital in order to have cardiac surgery. As the data collection tools, “Questionnaire Form’’ and “State Trait Anxiety Inventory’’ (it was developed by Spielberger et al.) was used. 2 groups (30 control and 30 experimental group) were compared. It was found that there was no difference between them, they were alike. In order to reduce anxiety of mothers, experimental group’s mothers were educated about appearance of child and intensive care unit environment by using visual materials 2-3 days before cardiac surgery, control group mothers were educated when they saw their children after cardiac surgery. An educational book about this subject was given to both groups.
Results: The mean of State Trait Anxiety points of the experimental group’s mothers decreased meaningfully after cardiac surgery (t= 3.04, p= 0.005; t= 2.74, p= 0.01). In control group mothers, there was no meaningful difference. In conclusion, it was determined that preoperative mother education and education book was effective to lessen anxiety levels of mothers. As a result, verbal and visual education of mothers whose children will be operated on heart, about intensive care unit and appearance of child before operation have been effective on reducing anxiety of mothers.