Effectiveness of Play Therapy Method to Reduce Anxiety in Pediatric Patients in Pre-Anesthesia Phase

Abstract

Pediatric patients undergoing surgical procedures are highly susceptible to preoperative anxiety, which negatively affects anesthesia induction, recovery, and long-term attitudes toward medical care. Play therapy has been identified as a promising non-pharmacological intervention to address this issue. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of play therapy in reducing anxiety levels among pediatric patients in the pre-anesthesia phase. A pre-experimental one-group pretest-posttest design was employed involving 30 pediatric patients aged 3–5 years scheduled for elective surgery at RSUD Kabupaten Jombang, recruited through purposive sampling. Anxiety was measured using the Modified Yale Preoperative Anxiety Scale (mYPAS) before and after a 15-minute play therapy session using doll and robot modalities. Data were analyzed using the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test. Prior to intervention, all 30 respondents (100%) were categorized as anxious (mean mYPAS score 96.28 ± 5.930). Following play therapy, 25 respondents (83.3%) were no longer anxious, with mean scores declining to 29.04 ± 12.266. Wilcoxon analysis yielded Z = -4.815 (p = 0.000), indicating that play therapy had a significant effect on patients' anxiety levels. Play therapy is an effective non-pharmacological intervention for reducing preoperative anxiety in pediatric patients and should be integrated into standard pre-anesthesia care protocols.