Fahriye Pazarcıkcı

1 Introduction Preoperative anxiety in children and their parents continues to be a current global problem (Celik and Canbulat Sahiner 2024; Hu et al. 2025; Williamson 2024). Approximately 4 million children undergo surgical intervention each year (Rabbitts and Groenewald 2020). A study shows that 74% of parents and 75% of children experience preoperative anxiety (Getahun et al. 2020).

This study aimed to explain the relationships between parents' mental well-being and sociodemographic characteristics with digital parenting awareness. This cross-sectional study used structural equation modeling. It was conducted between January and May 2023 in a province in the Mediterranean region of Turkey with 262 parents with children aged 5–11 years.