Effectiveness of cartoon animation video on pain during venepuncture among 3-6 year old children

Background: Distraction techniques are suitable measures for pain alleviation in young children during routine invasive procedures like venepuncture, serving as a positive stimulus drawing attention away from a painful experience.

Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of cartoons animation videos as a pain alleviant during venepuncture along with delineating association of pain with selected variables.

Method: This study followed a quasi-experimental design to monitor 60 children in the age group of 3-6 years selected by non-probability purposive sampling technique. The experimental and control group were composed of 30 children each. Baseline Proforma and an r-FLACC pain scale were used to measure and gather data. Cartoon animation video as an intervention was administered to the experimental group participants undergoing venepuncture and its effectiveness was estimated using an unpaired t-test. Association between pain perception and selected variables was analysed by a Chi-square test.

Results: Divergence between pain perception among the control and experimental group was highlighted by the mean pain scores of 2.9 ± 0.25 and 2.3±0.46 respectively (p <0.001). Effectiveness of cartoon animation videos as a distraction technique for pain alleviation was found to be significant (p<0.01). No significant association was found between the level of pain perceived by preschool children during venepuncture and the selected variables (p>0.05)

Sri Lanka Journal of Child Health, 2021; 50(2): 299-305