Abstract:

Background: In the hospital environment, children are faced with many anxiety and fear situations. However, there are no scales that can assess the anxiety and fear of children in the small age group during the invasive procedures in our country. Objectives: This methodological study was performed to gain of Children’s State Anxiety (CSA) and Children’s Fear Scale (CFS) to Turkish Language. Methods: The study sample was composed of 135 children undergoing phlebotomy aged 4-10 years. The data were obtained by using the socio-demographic data collection form, CSA and CFS. For both scales, the translation back translation method was used and the content validity index was evaluated. Test-retest method and correlation analysis were used, and regression analysis was used to determine the factors that explain CSA and CFS scores. Results: The content validity index were 1.00 and 0.89, respectively for CSA and CFS. There was a high level of positive correlation between the CSA average score and the CFS average scores assessed by the child, the parent and the researcher. It was found that there was a significant negative correlation between the children's anxiety scores and their ages; and that there was a significant negative correlation between the children's fear scores and their ages and a positive relationship with the presence of chronic illness. Conclusion: According to our results, it has been shown that the CSA and CFS Turkish version is a valid/reliable for Turkish children. Age and chronic illness are two important variables on fear and anxiety, and studies on reducing fear and anxiety can be planned in young children with chronic illness

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