A pandemic that originated in the Wuhan region of China in December 2019 was detected as a new type of coronavirus disease called coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19). In the first phase of the outbreak, specialists explained ways to maintain physical health . However, pediatric surgical procedures and anesthesia applications continued during this period. Surgery in pediatric patients is an unpleasant and potentially 'threatening' experience, often followed by preoperative anxiety due to the child's illness, hospitalization, fear of anesthesia - especially the time of anesthesia induction - and the surgery itself . Anesthesia is a stressful procedure for the child and the entire family. Both the COVID-19 pandemic and the surgical procedure are reflected in the symptoms of anxiety, fear or acute stress disorder for children and their families. As the disease spread, investigators started to emphasize the importance of protecting mental health. Identifying factors that contribute to significant preoperative anxiety levels in pediatric patients and their parents can help healthcare professionals choose the most appropriate from a variety of alternative strategies for anxiety control. This study was planned to evaluate the COVID-19 anxiety and phobia levels of the parents of pediatric patients are scheduled to undergo surgery under general anesthesia in Turkey.

The population of the study was created from the parents of pediatric patients who were scheduled for surgery under general anesthesia between May 2020 and September 2020 at Selcuk University Department of Anesthesiology and Reanimation. The data were obtained through face-to-face interviews before the child was taken to surgery after the necessary explanations were made to the parents of the children by the researchers. To enable the parents to answer the questions easily, a separate room in the relevant clinic was used for the interviews. The characteristics of the children and parents, supplementary data of the parents regarding the child's illness, and contact information were obtained. Participants were asked to complete a sociodemographic data form, the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS), and the COVID-19 Phobia Scale (C19P-S).

Inclusion Criteria:

• Parents of pediatric patients with American Society of Anesthesiologists classification (ASA) I-II, aged 1-12 years who were administered anesthesia to undergo surgery were included in the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Parents of children with ASA III or higher risk, expected to have difficult intubation, serious complications related to intraoperative surgery or anesthesia (e.g. respiratory depression, myocardial depression, cardiac arrhythmia, bronchospasm, laryngospasm, anaphylactic reaction, hypotension, bleeding), and could not communicate were excluded from the study.

The parents of pediatric patients who were scheduled to undergo surgery under general anesthesia in Turkey