Distracting children during blood draw: looking through distraction cards is effective in pain relief of children during blood draw

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the effects of distraction method by way of looking through distraction cards/Flippits® to reduce procedural pain and anxiety during blood draw. In this method we distract attention of the children with distraction cards/Flippits®. Flippits® consist of various eye-catching pictures and shapes. Then we asked the children questions about the cards during the blood draw procedure that he or she can only answer if he or she examines the cards carefully. This study is a prospective, randomized controlled trial. The sample consisted of 123 children of ages between 6 and 12. We randomly assigned subjects into two groups. Group 1 received no intervention, whereas Group 2 received distraction in the form of looking through distraction cards/Flippits®. Pre-procedural and procedural anxiety was assessed using the anxiety scale from the Children's Anxiety and Pain Scales by parents' and observer's report. Procedural pain was assessed using Faces Pain Scale-Revised by children, parent and observer reports. Results show that pre-procedural anxiety did not differ significantly. However, the experimental group had significantly lower pain levels than the control group during the blood draw procedure. Also experimental group had significantly lower anxiety levels than the control group.