Using educational technology to advance the practice of preparing children and families for hospitalisation

It is widely acknowledged that hospitalisation can be a stressful experience for children and their families. There is strong evidence in the literature that the utilisation of well-designed preparation programs can assist children to overcome their fear of hospitalisation and increase their ability to cope with medical procedures. A range of preparation programs have been described in the literature as have barriers to implementation including cost, access and flexibility. It is also important that the content presented is appropriate for the children undertaking the preparation in order to promote understanding. It is imperative that current and future research continues to focus on reducing children's fear of hospitalisation and draws upon previous knowledge to produce effective modes of preparation. The aim of this paper is to discuss how the use of multimedia technology can maintain the momentum in the development of effective preparation programs for children undergoing elective surgery. This paper will provide an overview of the instructional design process for a multimedia preparation program and present data to demonstrate that the program developed is a cognitively appropriate and an acceptable form of preparation for children aged 7-11 years who are scheduled for elective surgery.