Introduction Children undergoing tonsillotomy (TT) or adenotomy (AT) are often fearful of the procedure
and suffer from complaints such as pain and nausea afterwards. In this regard, greater
preoperative anxiety in children and their parents is associated with greater postoperative
discomfort. The aim of the HypnoChild study is to investigate whether preoperative
anxiety can be reduced by a hypnosis intervention and thereby alleviate postoperative
discomfort.
Material/Methods In a previous study, an anesthesia comic strip with a little monkey as the protagonist
was developed to reduce children's preoperative anxiety. In HypnoChild, we investigate
whether a hypnosis audio intervention can further reduce children's preoperative anxiety.
Here, the little monkey describes the surgery as an adventurous space journey. We
include children 3-6 years old receiving TT or AT. Here, 40 children in the experimental
group prepare for surgery with the hypnosis audio intervention in addition to the
comic, while 40 children in the control group receive only the comic. We measure children's
subjective well-being before and after surgery, parents' anxiety before surgery, children's
anxiety during surgery, and children's pain and nausea postoperatively.
Results Data collection for HypnoChild has been ongoing since July 2021 and is planned to
continue through May 2022. We will report the current study results at the Congress.
Conclusion If a hypnosis intervention in preparation for painful surgery in children reduces
anxiety and stress and alleviates postoperative discomfort, it would be an important
step toward child-friendly care in otolaryngology.
