Effect of Active and Passive Distraction on Decreasing Pain Associated with Painful Medical Procedures among School Aged Children

Paediatric patients are often subjected to unexpected medical procedures that cause pain such as intravenous (IV) insertions, intramuscular injections and central venous port access. Distraction is a commonly used non-pharmacologic pain management technique. Distraction is a technique that has been used in hospitals to help children to tolerate painful medical procedures. The current study aimed to assess effect of active and passive distraction on decreasing pain associated with painful medical procedures among school aged children. Subjects and methods: A quasi-experimental research design was utilized to achieve aim of the current study. Research hypotheses: There were 3 research hypotheses which were school aged children who will be exposed to active distraction will experience mean scores of pain less than those will be exposed to passive and no distractions, school aged children who will be exposed to active distraction will be experience intensity of pain less than those will be exposed to passive and no distractions and there will be association between mean scores of pain and selected demographic variables during painful medical procedures among school aged children. Setting: the current study was conducted in medicine wards in 2 of educational pediatric hospitals, Cairo University. Subjects: A convenient sample consists of 75 hospitalized school age children undergoing painful procedure (IV medication) was divided into 3 equal groups, (25 children in active distraction group, 25 children in passive distraction group and 25 children in control group). Tools for Data Collection: There were four tools used in the current study as the following: A structured socio-demographic questionnaire, Numeric Rating Scale (NRS), Wong-Baker FACES Pain Rating Scale and child’s pain record. Results: The results of current study revealed that the majority of school age children in both active and no distraction groups were females, while majority of them in passive distraction group was males and the mean age of those school age children in active group was 8.344±.96526 years whereas in passive group was 8.784±1.1671 years while in no distraction group was 8.308±1.133 years. The results of current study explained that mean scores of pain based on the NRS in active group was 2.98 ± 1.041 and in passive group was 4.44 ± 1.044 whereas in no distraction group was 5.20 ±.81. Conclusion: The current study concluded that active distraction is effective in decreasing intensity of pain of school age children greater than in passive or no distraction techniques. And there were statistically significant differences between mean scores of pain, intensity of pain in active, passive and no distraction groups, this proved the hypotheses of the current study. Recommendations: the current study recommended that active distraction should be applied for children with during painful medical procedures, provision of training program for nurses about effectiveness of active distraction in care of children with during painful medical procedures