Journal of pediatric oncology nursing : official journal of the Association of Pediatric Oncology Nurses
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J Pediatr Oncol Nurs · Jan 2002
Distraction for children of different ages who undergo repeated needle sticks.
A distraction intervention for pain management and behavioral distress was implemented for six children with chronic illnesses and their parents as the children underwent repeated needle sticks. The children ranged in age from two to eight years. Several different cognitive distractors were used for the children based on their respective developmental levels. ⋯ Concomitant improvements in parental reports of child distress, nurse estimates of child cooperation, and parents' self-report of feeling upset during the medical procedures also were found. Follow-up data were available for one of the successfully treated children. His improvements were maintained for both intramuscular injections and portacatheter accesses over 16 weeks without therapist involvement.