The effect of education on anxiety with therapeutic play before attempting peripheral vascular access to pediatric surgery patients

This study was conducted as a randomized controlled study to evaluate the effect of therapeutic play on anxiety in children aged 3-12 years before attempting peripheral vascular access. The population of the study consisted of sick children who were being treated in the Bulent Ecevit University Research and Application Center Pediatric Surgery Service between January 2022 and May 2022. The sample was 33 in the control group who volunteered to participate in the study and met the inclusion criteria; A total of 102 children were formed, 35 of which were in the amigurumi (I) group and 34 in the dyeing (II) group. In data collection, "Family and Child Information and Introduction Form", "Children's Emotional Expression Evaluation Scale" suitable for children's age groups and "Emotional Appearance Scale for Children", two amigurumi dolls, a girl and a boy, "Vascular Education and Coloring Book" and SpO2 measuring device were used. SPSS 20. Statistics package program was used in the analysis of the data. Parametric statistics (dependent groups t-test and one-way analysis of variance) other than SpO2 scores, since the K-S test scores were below 0.05, the skewness and kurtosis coefficients were in the range of +1.5, the number of samples in the groups to be compared was n>30, and parametric statistics gave much more reliable results) and nonparametric statistics (Wilcoxon test and Kruskall Wallis H test) were used for SPO2 scores. As a result, it was found that two different distraction techniques had a positive effect on children's anxiety level before attempting peripheral vascular access in children aged 3-12 years.