Older children and adolescents can be distracted by conversation. Talking to them about past, present, or future events will help take their mind off the procedure. Children above about 6 years of age can be coached during a procedure to say calming and relaxing things to themselves. Older teenagers can learn a more sophisticated strategy. A cknowledge the negative feeling or thought.
D escribe to oneself what statements or thoughts are causing the negative feeling.
A ssess if the thoughts are helpful. P resent alternatives to the thoughts. Measuring pain and keeping a record of the ratings is helpful for problem-solving discussions. By comparing previous ratings, the child and parent or nurse canfigure out what helps pain and what makes it worse. Brainstorming can then be used tofind new ideas to help reduce the pain.