The relationship between anxiety and parental support with hospitalization in school-age children (6–12 years) at RSUD X Jakarta

Hospitalization is a threatening experience for children undergoing hospital care due to environmental changes that create feelings of insecurity. The insecurity and discomfort experienced by school-age children can lead to various reactions to their illness or condition, such as separation from family, unfamiliar surroundings, and reduced affection. This quantitative study used a descriptive analytic correlational cross-sectional approach. The study population consisted of parents of school-age children hospitalized at X Regional General Hospital or RSUD X Jakarta, using total sampling with 42 respondents. Results showed that the majority of parents experienced no anxiety (40.5%), most parents provided high support (66.7%), and most children experienced mild anxiety (64.3%). The Kendall’s Tau C test showed a significant relationship between the level of parental anxiety and children’s hospitalization anxiety (p-value = 0.012 (α < 0.05)) and a significant relationship between parental support and children's hospitalization anxiety (p-value = <0.001 (α < 0.05)). The conclusion of the study indicates that children’s hospitalization anxiety is significantly related to both parental anxiety and parental support. It is recommended that parents, as one of the main sources of support for hospitalized children, enhance their support by actively listening to complaints, being friendly and helpful in meeting needs, participating actively in care, providing reassuring information, and giving praise for following medical advice