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Reducing medical fear among children using simulated health care spaces: A randomized controlled trial
Nelia Soto-Ruiz1, Paula Escalada-Hernández1, Cristina García-Vivar1
1Department of Health Sciences, Public University of Navarre (UPNA), Navarra Institute for Health Research (IdiSNA), Navarra, Spain.
Insights
The Health-Friendly Program significantly reduced medical fear in young children through simulated healthcare interactions. This innovative approach offers a promising strategy for addressing children's healthcare-related anxieties.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Psychology
- Health Simulation Education
- Childhood Anxiety Research
Background:
- Medical fear is a common issue in children, potentially impacting healthcare experiences.
- Early interventions are crucial for mitigating long-term anxiety related to medical settings.
- Simulated environments offer a safe space for children to confront and understand medical contexts.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the efficacy of the Health-Friendly Program in reducing medical fear among preschool-aged children.
- To evaluate an intervention utilizing simulated healthcare scenarios for pediatric fear reduction.
- To determine the impact of interactive simulation on children's medical-related anxieties.
Main Methods:
- An experimental design with 86 children allocated to intervention and control groups.
- The intervention group participated in the Health-Friendly Program, involving simulated medical scenarios.
- Medical fear was measured using the Child Medical Fear Scale, with pre- and post-intervention assessments.
Main Results:
- Children in the intervention group showed a significant decrease in medical fear scores (3.21 points reduction).
- Fear reduction was observed across all measured dimensions: intrapersonal, procedural, environmental, and interpersonal.
- The Health-Friendly Program demonstrated a statistically significant impact on mitigating children's medical fears.
Conclusions:
- The Health-Friendly Program is an effective, innovative intervention for reducing medical fear in children.
- Simulation-based education, incorporating information and confrontation strategies, shows promise for pediatric anxiety management.
- Collaborative educational initiatives between schools and simulation centers can benefit children's healthcare preparedness.
Purpose:
This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention that involved interactions within a simulated health care space to reduce medical fear among children in infant classes.
Methods:
An experimental study involving 86 children divided into an intervention group and a control group with pre- and postintervention measurements was undertaken. The intervention, known as the Health-Friendly Program, consisted of showing children various scenarios that simulated different medical contexts so that they could interact in them, experiment with the materials and ask questions. Medical fear was evaluated using the Spanish version of the revised "Child Medical Fear Scale", which provides a score of the medical fear level ranging between 0 and 34 points. The pretest and posttest levels of medical fear in the intervention and control groups were compared with Student's t test.
Results:
The children in the intervention group experienced a significant reduction in fear by 3.21 points (SD: 6.50) compared to the children in the control group. This reduction in fear was shown in all four dimensions of the scale: intrapersonal fears, procedural fears, environmental fears and interpersonal fears.
Conclusion:
The Health-Friendly Program provides an innovative intervention to reduce medical fear among children based on information, confrontation strategies and simulation scenarios. This study suggests the potential benefit of incorporating educational interventions in schools in collaboration with university and health care simulation centers.
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