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Published on: January 27, 2010
Pinwheel blowing and stress ball squeezing reduce children's pain and anxiety during intravenous catheterization in a
Reyhaneh Dehghan Dehnavi1,2, Nasrin Sharifi3, Zahra Jamshidi4
1Student Research Committee, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
Insights
Pinwheel blowing and stress ball squeezing effectively reduced pain and anxiety in children during IV catheter insertion. Pinwheel blowing demonstrated superior results, offering a simple, low-cost distraction method for pediatric patients.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Nursing
- Pain Management
- Child Psychology
Background:
- Intravenous catheter insertion is a common, yet painful and anxiety-provoking procedure for hospitalized children.
- Effective non-pharmacological interventions are needed to manage procedural pain and anxiety in pediatric populations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the efficacy of stress ball squeezing versus pinwheel blowing in reducing pain and anxiety during intravenous catheter insertion in school-aged children.
- To evaluate these interventions as potential distraction techniques in a pediatric hospital setting.
Main Methods:
- A randomized controlled trial involving 90 school-aged children (6-12 years) undergoing IV catheter insertion.
- Participants were assigned to three groups: stress ball, pinwheel blowing, or a control group.
- Pain and anxiety were measured using the Oucher Pain Scale and Venham Picture Test (VPT) pre-procedure, during, and post-procedure.
Main Results:
- The pinwheel group exhibited the lowest mean pain scores (8.0 ± 11.3) and anxiety scores (0.7 ± 1.1), significantly lower than the stress ball (14.5 ± 14.9 pain; 1.0 ± 1.2 anxiety) and control groups (50.5 ± 34.6 pain; 4.9 ± 2.8 anxiety) (p < 0.05).
- Both interventions significantly reduced pain and anxiety compared to the control group.
- Pinwheel blowing demonstrated a statistically significant greater reduction in both pain and anxiety.
Conclusions:
- Both stress ball squeezing and pinwheel blowing are effective non-pharmacological methods for managing pain and anxiety during IV catheterization in children.
- Pinwheel blowing is a highly effective, simple, and low-cost distraction technique that is recommended for pediatric procedural care.
Abstract:
Intravenous catheter insertion is the most common procedure in the hospital setting and causes significant pain and anxiety for hospitalized children. This randomized controlled trial aimed to compare the effects of stress ball squeezing and pinwheel blowing on pain and anxiety levels during intravenous catheter insertion in hospitalized school-aged children. Ninety children aged 6-12 years admitted to the pediatric wards of Namazi Hospital in Shiraz, Iran, between May and September 2024, were randomly assigned to three groups: a stress ball group, a pinwheel group, and a control group. Pain and anxiety were assessed before, during, and after the procedure using the Oucher Pain Scale and the Venham Picture Test (VPT), respectively. The pinwheel group reported the lowest mean pain score (8.0 ± 11.3), followed by the stress ball group (14.5 ± 14.9) and control group (50.5 ± 34.6), with statistically significant differences (p < 0.05). Similarly, anxiety scores were lowest in the pinwheel group (0.7 ± 1.1), compared to the stress ball group (1.0 ± 1.2) and the control group (4.9 ± 2.8) (p < 0.05). Both interventions were effective, but pinwheel blowing showed greater reductions in pain and is recommended as a simple, low-cost distraction method.
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