TIPS PARENTS CAN USE TO HELP CHILDREN TO NOT BE AFRAID OF THE DOCTOR

MANHATTAN -- Going to the doctor, staying overnight in the hospital or undergoing a medical procedure can be a traumatic experience for a child. Ann Murray, associate professor in the School of Family Studies and Human Services at Kansas State University, offers tips parents can use to prevent children from being unnecessarily fearful of doctors and hospitals.

• Parents should forewarn the child and prepare them as much as the child is cognitively able to understand about the procedure. The worst thing parents often do is not prepare the child because they think talking about it will make the child more anxious. The child ends up having a worse time getting through it because they are not forewarned.
• You need to be honest with the child, but don't go overboard. If you make it up to be this huge, terrible experience and talk about it constantly for two weeks in advance, it will raise the child's anxiety. But you can't say it's not going to hurt, because in fact it is going to hurt. You have to tell them it's only going to last for a short period of time and what the benefits are to the shot or medical procedure.
• There are many books that deal with going to the doctor or hospital that you can sit down and read with your child, and then answer their questions before they go in for a procedure.
• There are doctor's kits that you can buy and act out medical procedures with the child. Give a doll or stuffed animal a shot, and talk about how maybe it will hurt for a short period of time, but in the end they will be more healthy and they won't get sick.
• If the child is hospitalized or has to go through uncomfortable procedures, if at all possible parents should stay with the child. Without a parent, not only does the child endure the painful procedure, but not having a parent there to comfort them can also be traumatic. Many doctors realize that having the parent there is the best strategy, but make sure in advance that you will be able to stay, so that you can honestly tell the child you're going to stay.
• Parents should inform themselves about what the procedure is going to be like so they themselves are not anxious during the procedure. If the parent's anxiety escalates, the child will pick up on it and become more fearful.
• Parents who hate the sight of blood and could faint would be better off not staying with the child. Fear is really catching and if the child sees that the parent is really upset that's just going to increase their anxiety.

-30-

October 1997