Coping skills training for children: effects on distress before, during, and after hospitalization for surgery.

Thirty-three parent-child dyads (children's mean age = 7.2 years, SD = 1.2) were randomly assigned to information, anxiety reduction, or coping skills presurgical preparatory interventions. All groups received the "information" procedure that described typical hospitalization and surgery experiences via a puppetry film viewed 1 week prior to hospital admission. In the anxiety reduction group, parents also learned procedures (e.g., relaxation) to help them reduce their own distress. Parents in the coping skills group learned how to help their children use coping self-talk and related techniques. The coping skills intervention was expected to assist children most effectively, although the anxiety reduction procedure was also expected to improve adaptation relative to the information condition. These hypotheses were generally supported. Anxiety reduction and coping skills groups, compared to the information group, reduced children's self-reported fearfulness and parents' reported distress. Furthermore, only the coping skills group, compared to the information group, exhibited fewer maladaptive behaviors during hospitalization (ratings by observers) and less problematic behavior in the preadmission week and second postdischarge week (daily parental diaries). Theoretical explanations for these results are discussed in light of the similar findings obtained by Peterson and Shigetomi (1981).