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Non Pharmacological Examples

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There have been various nonpharmacological strategies proposed to relieve pain in hospitalized children, and a central element of several of these strategies is play. The empirical research of play in the healthcare setting has not received much attention, however these authors believed that children during the postsurgical period would manifest less pain if they were refocused with play. This study aimed to determine the effect of a hospital program to promote play on postsurgical pain in pediatric patients. The authors believed that children distracted by play during the postsurgical period would manifest less pain than those who were not distracted by play during the postsurgical period. 95 patients (ages 1-7 years) who met predetermined criteria were eligible and participated in the study. The study contained both an experimental group and a control group and participants were randomly …show more content…

In general, the experimental group scored lower than the control group on the pain scale. This result occurred in all three measurements of postsurgical pain in the participants. The author’s listed two relevant mechanisms that could explain the results of their study. One relevant mechanism involved the effect of distraction on a person’s perception of pain. The second relevant mechanism involves the effect of mood on the perception of pain, as well as the transmission of emotions between the families within the healthcare setting. The author’s determined that there were limitations to their study such as experimenter bias, gender bias (disproportion in gender in participants), and not having assessed the extent to which parents followed directions in the experimental group. In all, the authors concluded that play can contribute to the child’s wellbeing in the hospital and can help patients cope with

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