Effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions to manage anxiety in adolescents in the perioperative period: a systematic review protocol.

Objective: This review aims to evaluate the effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions to manage anxiety in adolescents in the perioperative period.

Introduction: Adolescents undergoing surgery suffer considerable levels of anxiety and distress before surgery, which are maintained beyond the procedure. Although the benefit of non-pharmacological interventions in this area is significant, their efficacy is still under-studied.

Inclusion Criteria: This review will consider studies that focus on adolescents aged 10 to 19 years, who have undergone a surgical procedure. All studies that focus on non-pharmacological interventions occurring in the perioperative period designed to reduce anxiety without restrictions on comparators, geography, or culture will be included.

Methods: An initial limited search of PubMed and CINAHL has been undertaken and will be followed by a second search for published and unpublished studies, without limitations of publication date, in major health care-related electronic databases. Studies in English, Spanish, and Portuguese will be included. After full-text studies are retrieved, methodological quality assessment and data extraction will be performed independently by two reviewers. A narrative synthesis will accompany the results and, if possible, a meta-analysis will be performed and a Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) Summary of Findings presented.

Systematic Review Registration Number: PROSPERO CRD42020184386.