Effect of physician communication on caregivers’ anxiety in pediatric trauma patients: a quasi-experimental study

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to examine the effect of verbal feedback provided by the attending physician on the state anxiety level of caregivers of patients aged 0–18 years who visited the emergency department due to pediatric trauma, after the diagnosis and treatment steps became clear. Method: The sample consisted of 391 caregivers of children aged 0–18 years who visited the Emergency Department of Balıkesir University Faculty of Medicine Hospital due to trauma between July 31 and September 30, 2025. The “Personal Information Form” and the “State Anxiety Inventory” were used as data collection tools. Data were collected from caregivers of pediatric trauma patients before and after the physician briefing. Data were analyzed using a paired-samples t-test to compare pre- and post-test results. An independent samples t-test and One-way Analysis of Variance were used to examine the effect of demographic variables. Results: The mean state anxiety score of caregivers before receiving physician information was 53.31, and after receiving the information, it was 51.74. The difference between the mean scores of state anxiety was statistically significant (t = 69.876; p < .001). The findings indicate that explanatory feedback provided by physicians is effective in reducing anxiety in caregivers. A significant difference was found according to the mechanism of trauma; caregivers of children injured in traffic accidents had higher overall state anxiety levels compared with those whose children experienced fall- or sports-related trauma (F = 7.251; p < .001). However, no significant differences were found in terms of the caregivers’ degree of kinship, education level, trauma severity, and gender of children. Conclusions: The findings indicate that physician-provided verbal information is associated with a statistically significant but modest reduction in caregivers’ state anxiety levels in the pediatric emergency trauma setting. This result underscores the potential value of timely informational support for caregivers during acute care processes. This study, as one of the few empirical studies targeting caregivers’ anxiety in the field of pediatric trauma, fills an important gap in the literature and provides a strong foundation for future multicenter, longitudinal studies.