The effect of distraction technique on children's pain, anxiety and medical fear in invasive procedures

This randomized controlled experimental study was conducted to determine the effects of visual and/or auditory distraction techniques applied to children aged 7-12 during invasive procedures on pain, anxiety and medical fear. The research was carried out in Çanakkale Mehmet Akif Ersoy State Hospital Pediatric Emergency Service between November 2021 and March 2022. In the study, the stratified block randomization method was used, and 144 children who met the inclusion criteria were assigned to three different intervention groups in which kaleidoscope, listening to music and virtual reality application were applied during the invasive procedures, and the control group in which standard invasive procedure was applied. The data of the study were collected through Personal Information Form, Wong-Baker Faces Pain Rating Scale, Child Anxiety Scale-State and Child Medical Fear Scale, and were evaluated using appropriate statistical methods. In this study, it was determined that the levels of pain, anxiety and medical fear after the invasive procedure of the children in the control group were statistically significantly higher than the children in the intervention groups (p<0.05). There was no significant difference between the three different distraction techniques in terms of reducing pain and medical fear (p>0.05), but virtual reality application was found to be more effective in reducing anxiety level (p<0.05). In addition, it was found that the anxiety level after the invasive procedure was significantly lower in all groups than before the invasive procedure (p<0.05). On the other hand, there was no significant change in the level of medical fear before and after the invasive procedure in the control group (p>0.05), on the contrary, it was determined that the medical fear decreased significantly in all intervention groups (p<0.05). In this direction, it has been determined that distraction techniques applied during the invasive procedure are effective in reducing pain, anxiety and medical fear in children.