Exploration of the Relationship Between a Group Medical Play Intervention and Children's Preoperative Fear and Anxiety

Child life specialist services, practice, and utilization across health care: a scoping review

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this review was to map the available evidence regarding the scope of child life specialist services, practice, and utilization.

INTRODUCTION

The concept of child life services began in 1922 and emerged as the child life specialist services specialty in the United States in the 1970s and 1980s. Child life specialists are members of multidisciplinary health care system teams who prioritize the developmental needs of pediatric patients to support and improve patient and family health care experiences. Evidence of the effectiveness of child life specialist services and the utilization of those services is often incorporated in multidisciplinary research reports and thus overlooked.

INCLUSION CRITERIA

All quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research study reports and systematic reviews investigating child life specialist services, practice, and utilization in health care systems were included.

METHODS

This review was guided by the JBI methodology for scoping reviews and a published a priori protocol. CINAHL (EBSCOhost), MEDLINE (PubMed), Scopus, and PsycINFO (APA) were searched for evidence published from January 1980 to August 2022.

RESULTS

Research publications about child life specialist services, practice, and utilization have increased dramatically over the past decade, with more than 50% of studies published in the past 5 years. Although the first authors of the majority of the research publications were physicians, these multidisciplinary author teams depicted child life specialist services in a variety of roles, including co-investigators, interventionists, and research subjects. The 105 full-text publications reviewed were from 9 countries, plus 1 publication that surveyed people across Europe. The contexts spanned a wide scope of clinical settings and medical subspecialties, but primarily in hospitals and health centers, and to a lesser extent, in ambulatory clinics and communities. A wide variety of child life specialist services were described across these settings.

CONCLUSION

Mapping the research can help delineate the barriers and facilitators to child life specialist services in health care systems. This scoping review provides evidence of the global diffusion of child life specialist services across health care system settings, with recent increases in research publications involving child life specialist services.

Use of an adaptive sensory environment in patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the perioperative environment: a parallel, randomized controlled trial

Background

Patients with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) experience higher rates of perioperative anxiety and are likely to receive premedication. Little is known about nonpharmaceutical interventions which may decrease anxiety. This study aims to evaluate the use of an adaptive sensory environment (ASE) to reduce ASD patient anxiety during the perioperative process.

Methods

Our feasibility study (ClinicalTrials.govNCT04994613) enrolled 60 patients in two parallel groups randomized to a control (no ASE) or intervention group (ASE). We included all surgical patients aged three to twelve years, with a formal diagnosis of ASD, Asperger's Syndrome, or pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified. Preoperative behaviors were recorded by an unblinded nurse utilizing the validated Modified Yale Preoperative Anxiety Scale (mYPAS). The difference in score on the mYPAS was the primary outcome, and an intention-to-treat analysis was employed. A generalized estimating equations model was used to compare mYPAS scores controlling for significant independent variables.

Findings

58 patients were analyzed after 1:1 randomization of 30 patients to each group. Groups were balanced except the median number of intraoperative pain medications was significantly lower in the ASE group (1 vs. 3, p = 0.012). Mean (SD) age for all patients was 7.2 (2.9) years, range 2.6-12.7. 72.4% (42/58) were White and all were Non-Hispanic or Latino. 74% were Male (21/30 ASE and 22/28 Control) and 26% were Female (9/30 ASE and 6/28 Control). No differences were found in mYPAS scores between groups at three time periods (43.5 vs. 42, p = 0.88, 47.8 vs. 48.4, p = 0.76, and 36.4 vs. 43.8, p = 0.15, ASE vs. control group, respectively). The ASE group had a significant within-group decrease in mYPAS scores from nursing intake to transition (p = 0.030).

Interpretation

An ASE did not significantly reduce perioperative anxiety. However, the promising results deserve further investigation.

Funding

Dayton Children's Hospital Foundation Robert C. Cohn Memorial Research Grant.

The effect of watching videos using virtual reality during operating room transfer on the fear andanxiety of children aged 6-12 undergoing inguinal hernia surgery: A randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND

Being in a hospital and undergoing a surgical intervention are very stressful for the children and their parents. It is critical to keep the pain, fear and anxiety of children at a minimum level during this period in order to have a better process.

PURPOSE

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of watching videos using virtual reality on fear and anxiety of children aged 6-12 years old during operating room transfer for inguinal hernia surgery.

METHODS

This prospective and randomized controlled study used parallel trial design guided by the CONSORT checklist. The study was conducted with two groups: the group that watch videos using virtual reality group and the control group. Data were collected using follow-up forms; the Children's State Anxiety Scale and the Children's Fear Scale.

RESULTS

Children in the virtual realty group had lower anxiety and fear scores than the children in the control group (p < 0.05). Evaluation of the in-group measurements demonstrated that the fear and anxiety scores of the children in the virtual reality group decreased after the transfer compared to that of the pre-transfer, while the children in the control group experienced higher fear and anxiety scores (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Virtual reality is an effective method to reduce fear and anxiety in children aged 6-12 years old during their transfer to the operating room.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

Evidence-based protocol and guidelines should be developed for nonpharmacological methods such as virtual reality for procedural fear and anxiety in children.

Using Virtual Reality to Reduce Anxiety and Improve Hospital Experience in Paediatric Orthopaedic Patients and Their Parents

The hospital environment can be a stressful environment for paediatric patients and their parents, which is often characterised by heightened levels of pain and anxiety. To address these challenges, many innovative intervention methods has been explored. For example, immersive virtual reality (VR) headsets as a distraction method has become an increasingly popular intervention in recent years. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of VR using 'Rescape DR.VR Junior' in reducing pain, anxiety, and enhancing the overall hospital experience for paediatric orthopaedic patients and their parents. A total of 64 patients aged 4-18 years were included in this study, which utilised a control group (interacting with a play specialist) and a VR intervention group (including pre-operative patients and fracture clinic patients). Anxiety and pain levels were measured using a 10-point Likert scale before and after the intervention, and validated questionnaires were used to assess parental anxiety and overall hospital experience. The results indicated that VR intervention significantly reduced patient and parental anxiety both before surgery and in the fracture clinic setting (p < 0.5). However, no significant reduction in pain scores was observed in either environments. Comparatively, VR intervention was found to be comparable to traditional play methods in terms of reducing anxiety in the pre-operative environment. All patients and parents agreed that the use of VR distraction methods significantly improved their hospital experience. In conclusion, VR is an effective method for reducing child and parental anxiety and enhancing the hospital experience and can be used alone or in conjunction with a play specialist.

Developmentally Appropriate Care of Pediatric Patients in the Perioperative Setting

Pediatric patients do not undergo procedures exclusively at pediatric specialty facilities. Many perioperative nurses will care for a pediatric patient at some point in their career. Children and their caregivers often experience elevated levels of anxiety during the perioperative experience. Possessing knowledge of the child's age and developmental stage and using effective communication techniques can decrease this anxiety. This article presents insights into the stages of pediatric cognitive and psychosocial development and special pediatric health care considerations. Approaching and interacting with a child in a manner appropriate for their age and developmental stage can foster a more trusting nurse-child-caregiver relationship and reassure the caregiver that the perioperative team is providing their child with safe, high-quality care. Also included are five hypothetical case studies that illustrate effective communication styles and developmentally appropriate techniques that personnel can apply during the pediatric patient's perioperative experience.

The effect of an interactive robot on children's post-operative anxiety, mobilization, and parents' satisfaction; randomized controlled study

PURPOSE

To evaluate the effect of an interactive robot on Turkish children's post-operative anxiety, mobilization, and parents' satisfaction related to post-operative care.

METHOD

A randomized controlled study was conducted with 84 children who will undergo day surgery aged 5-10 years and their parents at a university hospital between June 2020-April 2022. The interactive robot was provided to accompany the children during the postoperative mobilization. Children in the control group received standard care during mobilization. Data were collected using the Personal Information Form, Children's State Anxiety (CSA), Parental Satisfaction Scale-Visual Analog Scale, and Mobilization Chart.

RESULTS

It was determined that the CSA score of the children in the control group were higher than the intervention group before their first mobilization after surgery (p = 0.005). During the first (p = 0.042) and second (p = 0.012) mobilization, it was determined that the mobilization duration of children in the intervention group was longer than the children in the control group. It was found that the parents of the children in the intervention group had a high level of satisfaction.

CONCLUSION

It has been determined that interactive robots positively affect postoperative mobilization in children undergoing day surgery, reduce the anxiety level of children before mobilization, and increase the duration of mobilization. In addition, the use of interactive robots increased parents' satisfaction with post-operative mobilization care.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

Using interactive robots to reduce the stress and anxiety of children during the perioperative process can be a promising approach to improve their recovery by providing early mobilization.

Virtual reality for pediatric periprocedural care

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Commercial availability of virtual reality headsets and software has exponentially grown over the last decade as it has become more sophisticated, less expensive, and portable. Although primarily used by the general public for entertainment, virtual reality has been adopted by periprocedural clinicians to improve patient experiences and treatments. The purpose of this review is to explore recently reported evidence for virtual reality effectiveness for pediatric periprocedural care and discuss considerations for clinical implementation.

RECENT FINDINGS

In the preprocedure setting, practitioners use virtual reality to introduce children to periprocedural environments, distract attention from preprocedural vascular access, and increase cooperation with anesthesia induction. Intraprocedure, virtual reality decreases sedation requirements, and in some instances, eliminates anesthesia for minor procedures. Virtual reality also augments pain reduction therapies in the acute and extended rehabilitation periods, resulting in faster recovery and improved outcomes. Virtual reality seems to be well treated for pediatric use, given close clinical care and carefully curated content.

SUMMARY

Given the multiple clinical applications of virtual reality to supplement pediatric periprocedural care, practitioners should consider developing clinical programs that reliably provide access to virtual reality. Future research should focus on identification of patient characteristics and types of software that yield optimal patient outcomes.