Anxiety Level of Hospitalized Pre-Schooler Undergoing Venipuncture: A Comparative Study in The Presence and Absence of Parents

Abstract

Distraction is the most frequent intervention used in the paediatric department to guide children's attention away from the painful stimuli and reduce pain and anxiety. Distraction techniques are often provided by nurses, parents or child life specialists. Objectives are a) to assess the anxiety level of hospitalized pre-schooler undergoing venipuncture in the presence of parents in selected hospitals of Vidarbha region. b) to assess the anxiety level of hospitalized pre-schooler undergoing venipuncture in the absence of parents. c) to compare the anxiety level of hospitalized pre-schooler undergoing venipuncture in the presence and absence of parents. d) to associate the anxiety level of hospitalized pre-schooler undergoing venipuncture in the presence of parents with selected demographic variables. e) to associate the anxiety level of hospitalized pre-schooler undergoing venipuncture in the absence of parents with selected demographic variables. Facial anxiety scale and behavioural anxiety assessment scale was used. Comparative study design was used. Non-Probability convenience samplingtechnique was used. The samples were 60 hospitalized pre-schoolers undergoing venipuncture. Comparison of anxiety scores shows that the calculated't ’value for facial anxiety is 6.61 and for behaviour anxiety is 7.24 which is higher than the tabulated value 2, at 5% level of significance and calculated ‘p ’value was 0.00. Hence, it is statistically interpreted that there is a significant increase in anxiety level of children undergoing venipuncture in the absence of parents.