INFLUENCE OF PLAY AND TEMPERAMENT ON THE YOUNG CHILD'S RESPONSE TO PAIN.
Contributors: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Published: 1987
Number of pages: 95
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Education, Health.
Description: Research on strategies children use in coping with stressful medical procedures has been limited. In this study the influence of needle play and children's temperament on the subjective and objective responses of young children to the pain experience of a blood test were examined. Eighty well children (ages 48-months to 83-months) were randomly assigned to four needle play intervention groups in relation to blood work: before; after; before and after; or no play. Subjective measures of children's pain were based on children's own assessment of pain, using the Expressive Faces Tool. Objective measures included pulse rates and body movement/posture scores. Both the subjective and objective measures were taken twice, immediately and five minutes after the blood test. Temperament was determined using a questionnaire completed by the parents.

The data in this study provide support for the role of needle play in explaining the objective parameters of children's responses to pain. Multivariate analyses of covariance on the objective measures showed significant treatment effect (p $<$.001) at five minutes after blood test. Post hoc comparisons revealed significantly lower mean pulse rates for all three intervention group subjects as compared with the control group subjects. Post hoc comparisons also indicated significantly lower mean body movement/posture scores five minutes after the blood test for the preplay (p $<$.01) and postplay (p $<$.05) groups as compared with the control group. No significant differences were found between the groups on the subjective pain measures.

Multiple regression was used to investigate the influence of temperament variables on the subjective and objective responses of the children to pain. Modest results indicate that rhythm explains subjective pain appraisal at five minutes after the blood test $(R\sp2□ □$=.04), and approach helps to explain the variance of body movement posture score immediately after the blood test $(R\sp2□ □$=.075).

These results indicate that: (a) play may be an effective strategy to help children cope with pain, (b) the role of temperament in pain perception warrants further investigation, and (c) tools for pain assessment and strategies for coping need to be developed.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-08, Section: B, page: 2268.

Thesis (PH.D.)--VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE AND STATE UNIVERSITY, 1987.

School code: 0247.