How Hospital Tours Affect Preoperative Anxiety in Mothers with Children Undergoing Open-Heart Surgery in Iran: A Quasi-Experimental Study.

Anxiety was self-reported by mothers, so scores could be influenced by expectations or social desirability. Participants were mothers of children undergoing open-heart surgery at one hospital in Iran, so results may not apply to other settings, families or surgeries. Mothers were selected by convenience sampling, and the study was not blinded. Both intervention groups also received conventional ward preparation, so the separate effect of the oral session or tour cannot be isolated. Anxiety was measured only one hour before transfer to the operating room, so long-term effects were not assessed. The study excluded mothers with anxiety disorders or recent anxiolytics and children with emergency surgery, cancellation, hemodynamic changes or death, so it does not cover all preoperative families.

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Do not conclude that hospital tours are the best preparation method or that the tour alone reduced anxiety. The tour was not better than oral instruction for operation-related anxiety and was not better than routine care for state anxiety, and both intervention groups also received conventional ward preparation.