Mothers' beliefs about analgesia during childhood immunization

Parent-led neonatal pain management-a narrative review and update of research and practices

Introduction

Research related to parent-led neonatal pain management is increasing, as is the clinical implementation. Skin-to-skin contact, breastfeeding and parents' vocalizations are examples of pain reducing methods that give parents an opportunity to protect their infant from harm while alleviating their anxiety and developing their parenting skills.

Methods

In this paper we will provide a narrative review and describe the current research about parent-led neonatal pain management. Based on this we will discuss clinical challenges, implementation strategies and implications for future research.

Results

Parents express great readiness to embrace opportunities to increase their self-efficacy in their ability to address infant pain. Parent-led pain-reducing methods are effective, feasible, cost-effective, culturally sensitive, and can be individualized and tailored to both the parent's and infant's needs. Both barriers and facilitators of parent-led pain care have been studied in research highlighting structural, organizational, educational, and intra- and interpersonal aspects. For example, health care professionals' attitudes and beliefs on parent-led methods, and their concern that parental presence during a procedure increases staff anxiety. On the other hand, the presence of a local pain champion whose duty is to facilitate the adoption of pain control measures and actively promote parent-professional collaboration, is crucial for culture change in neonatal pain management and nurses have a key role in this change. The knowledge-to-practice gap in parent-led management of infants' procedure-related pain highlight the need for broader educational applications and collaborative professional, parental and research initiatives to facilitate practice change.

Conclusion

Parent-led neonatal pain management is more than simply a humane and compassionate thing to do. The inclusion of parent-led pain care has been scientifically proven to be one of the most effective ways to reduce pain associated with repeated painful procedures in early life and parents report a desire to participate. Focus on enablers across interprofessional, organizational and structural levels and implementation of recommended pediatric pain guidelines can support the provision of optimal evidence-based family-centered neonatal pain management.

Perspectives of nurses regarding pain assessment and management during routine infant vaccination in Ghana

AIM

To explore the perspectives of nurses regarding pain and its management during routine infant vaccination at the Child Welfare Clinics in Ghana.

DESIGN

Qualitative descriptive design.

METHODS

Qualitative in depth, in-person interviews using a semistructured interview guide were conducted with 19 Registered Nurses who were were purposively sampled from three selected Child Welfare Clinics in hospitals in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana, The Tesch cotent analysis procedure was followed for the analysis of interview data.

RESULTS

Nurses were aware that the injections they give infants are painful. They described how infants exhibit certain behaviours to express pain. Although nurses support infant pain management during vaccination, they rarely use evidenced-based pain interventions.

Parent-Targeted Education Regarding Infant Pain Management Delivered During the Perinatal Period: A Scoping Review

All infants experience pain in early life from procedures. Parents recognize pain as a prevalent issue, reporting a strong desire for more information on infant pain. The aim of this study was to explore and map the current evidence of parent-targeted educational interventions about infant pain, delivered throughout the perinatal period. Records were identified in PubMed, CINAHL, EMBASE, and ERIC databases and hand searching recent publications in 3 relevant journals. Records in English that described or evaluated educational interventions on infant pain management aimed at parents during the perinatal period were eligible for review and those not related to pain or aimed at healthcare providers were excluded. Evaluation was completed following the Methodology for JBI Scoping Reviews and standardized critical appraisal instruments from the Joanna Briggs Institute. Initial search yielded 6946 records, with 9 included in analysis. Six studies were quantitative, 2 qualitative, and 1 mixed methods. Included interventions contained information about parent-led pain management strategies for infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (n = 4), full term (n = 4), or both (n = 1). Despite being an area of high concern for parents of newborns, few studies addressed parent-targeted education regarding infant pain. Future research examining the impact and efficacy of these interventions addressing parental and neonatal outcomes is warranted.

Process Interventions for Vaccine Injections: Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials and Quasi-Randomized Controlled Trials

BACKGROUND

This systematic review evaluated the effectiveness of process interventions (education for clinicians, parent presence, education of parents [before and on day of vaccination], and education of patients on day of vaccination) on reducing vaccination pain, fear, and distress and increasing the use of interventions during vaccination.

DESIGN/METHODS

Databases were searched using a broad search strategy to identify relevant randomized and quasi-randomized controlled trials. Critical outcomes were pain, fear, distress (when applicable), and use of pain management interventions. Data were extracted according to procedure phase (preprocedure, acute, recovery, combinations of these) and pooled using established methods. Analyses were conducted using standardized mean differences (SMD) and risk ratios (RR).

RESULTS

Thirteen studies were included. Results were generally mixed. On the basis of low to very low-quality evidence, the following specific critical outcomes showed significant effects suggesting: (1) clinicians should be educated about vaccine injection pain management (use of interventions: SMD 0.66; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.47, 0.85); (2) parents should be present (distress preprocedure: SMD -0.85; 95% CI: -1.35, -0.35); (3) parents should be educated before the vaccination day (use of intervention preprocedure: SMD 0.83; 95% CI: 0.25, 1.41 and RR, 2.08; 95% CI: 1.51, 2.86; distress acute: SMD, -0.35; 95% CI: -0.57, -0.13); (4) parents should be educated on the vaccination day (use of interventions: SMD 1.02; 95% CI: 0.22, 1.83 and RR, 2.42; 95% CI: 1.47, 3.99; distress preprocedure+acute+recovery: SMD -0.48; 95% CI: -0.82, -0.15); and (5) individuals 3 years of age and above should be educated on the day of vaccination (fear preprocedure: SMD -0.67; 95% CI: -1.28, -0.07).

CONCLUSIONS

Educating individuals involved in the vaccination procedure (clinicians, parents of children being vaccinated; individuals above 3 y of age) is beneficial to increase use of pain management strategies, reduce distress surrounding with vaccination, and to reduce fear. When possible, parent presence is also recommended for children undergoing vaccination.

Impact of parent-directed education on parental use of pain treatments during routine infant vaccinations: a cluster randomized trial

Educating parents about ways to minimize pain during routine infant vaccine injections at the point of care may positively impact on pain management practices. The objective of this cluster randomized trial was to determine the impact of educating parents about pain in outpatient pediatric clinics on their use of pain treatments during routine infant vaccinations. Four hospital-based pediatric clinics were randomized to intervention or control groups. Parents of 2- to 4-month-old infants attending the intervention clinics reviewed a pamphlet and a video about vaccination pain management on the day of vaccination, whereas those in the control clinics did not. Parent use of specific pain treatments (breastfeeding, sugar water, topical anesthetics, and/or holding of infants) on the education day and at subsequent routine vaccinations 2 months later was the primary outcome. Altogether, 160 parent-infant dyads (80 per group) participated between November 2012 and February 2014; follow-up data were available for 126 (79%). Demographics did not differ between groups (P > 0.05). On the education day and at follow-up vaccinations, use of pain interventions during vaccinations was higher in the intervention group (80% vs 26% and 68% vs 32%, respectively; P < 0.001 for both analyses). Educating parents about pain management in a hospital outpatient setting leads to higher use of pain interventions during routine infant vaccinations.

Assessment of parental perception of malaria vaccine in Tanzania

Background

Clinical trials of the RTS,S malaria vaccine have completed Phase III and the vaccine is on track for registration. Before making decisions about implementation, it is essential to prepare the ground for introducing the vaccine by assessing awareness and willingness to use malaria vaccines and to provide policy makers with evidence-based information on the best strategies to engage communities to manage the introduction of malaria vaccine in Tanzania.

Methods

In November 2011, as part of a large cross-sectional study of all 23 regions of Tanzania (mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar) was conducted during Tanzanian Integrated Measles Campaign (IMC) survey. In this study, the variables of interests were awareness and willingness to use a malaria vaccine. The main outcome measure was willingness to use a malaria vaccine. Logistic regression was used to examine the influence of predictive factors.

Results

A representative sample of 5502 (out of 6210) women, aged 18 years or older and with children under 11 months old, was selected to participate, using random sampling probability. Awareness of the forthcoming malaria vaccine, 11.8 % of participants in mainland Tanzania responded affirmatively, compared to 3.4 % in Zanzibar (p value <0.0001). 94.5 % of all respondents were willing to vaccinate their children against malaria, with a slight difference between mainland Tanzania (94.3 %) and Zanzibar (96.8 %) (p value = 0.0167).

Conclusions

Although mothers had low awareness and high willingness to use malaria vaccine, still availability of malaria vaccine RTS,S will compliment other existing malaria interventions and it will be implemented through the Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals (IVB) programme (formerly EPI). The information generated from this study can aid policy makers in planning and setting priorities for introducing and implementing the malaria vaccine.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12936-015-0889-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Usability and knowledge testing of educational tools about infant vaccination pain management directed to postnatal nurses

BACKGROUND

Adapting educational tools to meet user needs is a critical aspect of translating research evidence into best clinical practices. The objectives of this study were to evaluate usability and effectiveness of educational tools about infant vaccination pain management directed to postnatal nurses.

METHODS

Mixed methods design. A template pamphlet and video included in a published clinical practice guideline were subjected to heuristic usability evaluation and then the revised tools were reviewed by postnatal hospital nurses in three rounds of interviews involving 8 to 12 nurses per round. Nurses' knowledge about evidence-based pain management interventions was evaluated at three time points: baseline, after pamphlet review, and after video review.

RESULTS

Of 32 eligible postnatal nurses, 29 agreed to participation and data were available for 28. Three overarching themes were identified in the interviews: 1) utility of information, 2) access to information, and 3) process for infant procedures. Nurses' knowledge improved significantly (p < 0.05) from the baseline phase to the pamphlet review phase, and again from the pamphlet review phase to the video review phase.

CONCLUSIONS

This study demonstrated usability and knowledge uptake from a nurse-directed educational pamphlet and video about managing infant vaccination pain. Future studies are needed to determine the impact of implementing these educational tools in the postnatal hospital setting on parental utilization of analgesic interventions during infant hospitalization and future infant vaccinations.

Parent participation in a childhood immunization pain reduction method

OBJECTIVES

This randomized controlled trial evaluated the effectiveness, feasibility, and acceptability of parent participation (PP) in an evidence-based method to reduce the pain of prekindergarten immunizations.

METHODS

Healthy children aged 4 to 6 years were randomized to a multimodal distraction method during administration of routine vaccines with PP and 1 medical assistant (experimental group) or 2 medical assistants (standard-of-care comparison group). Children and parents rated the pain after injections, and a blinded observer coded children's pain from videotapes.

RESULTS

In all, 76 children participated. Despite group randomization, more children in the medical assistant-only group received a 3-injection series (25; 68%) than in the PP group (6 [15%], P = .001). After adjustment for this imbalance, child-reported pain was higher in the PP group compared with the medical assistant-only group (2.95 vs 1.75; F = 5.87; df = 1.66; d = 0.64; P < .02). There were no differences between groups for parent-reported and observer-rated measures of pain or in intervention fidelity, duration of procedure, or child or parent satisfaction.

CONCLUSIONS

Although child-reported pain was higher for the PP group, the magnitude of the difference may not be clinically significant. PP was feasible and acceptable to both parents and children, did not take any longer, and reduced the need for additional medical personnel. Together, these data provide preliminary support for PP for prekindergarten immunization pain management.

From the mouth of babes: Getting vaccinated doesn't have to hurt

BACKGROUND:

Analgesic interventions are not commonly administered during childhood vaccination, despite the fact that two-thirds of children are afraid of needles and one-tenth are noncompliant with immunization.

OBJECTIVE:

To explore children’s experiences of vaccination and preferences for analgesia.

METHODS:

A total of 17 children (four to 14 years of age) at an independent school in Toronto (Ontario) participated in three focus-group interviews. The majority had previous experience with pain management interventions during vaccination. Thematic content analysis was used to analyze interview transcripts.

RESULTS:

The findings were categorized into three main themes: experience of vaccination; roles and responsibilities regarding pain management; and impact of pain management. Children easily recalled previous vaccinations and discussed fear and distress experienced by themselves and others. Children believed that parents and immunizers should prepare them ahead of time and use interventions to manage and monitor pain. They also wanted adults to support their efforts to lead pain management. Children discussed benefits of managing pain, including reduced unnecessary suffering, improved vaccination experience, reduced risk of developing needle fears and reduced noncompliant behaviours. They were knowledgeable about strategies for reducing pain including distraction, topical anesthetics and injection techniques. They contrasted vaccination with and without pain management, and indicated a preference for pain management.

CONCLUSION:

Children reported that managing vaccination pain is important and that analgesic interventions should routinely be used. Incorporating pain management in the process of vaccination has the potential to improve children’s experiences with vaccination and promote more positive attitudes and behaviours.

Too many crying babies: a systematic review of pain management practices during immunizations on YouTube

Background

Early childhood immunizations, although vital for preventative health, are painful and too often lead to fear of needles. Effective pain management strategies during infant immunizations include breastfeeding, sweet solutions, and upright front-to-front holding. However, it is unknown how often these strategies are used in clinical practice. We aimed to review the content of YouTube videos showing infants being immunized to ascertain parents’ and health care professionals’ use of pain management strategies, as well as to assess infants’ pain and distress.

Methods

A systematic review of YouTube videos showing intramuscular injections in infants less than 12 months was completed using the search terms "baby injection" and "baby vaccine" to assess (1) the use of pain management strategies and (2) infant pain and distress. Pain was assessed by crying duration and pain scores using the FLACC (Face, Legs, Activity, Cry, Consolability) tool.

Results

A total of 142 videos were included and coded by two trained individual viewers. Most infants received one injection (range of one to six). Almost all (94%) infants cried before or during the injections for a median of 33 seconds (IQR = 39), up to 146 seconds. FLACC scores during the immunizations were high, with a median of 10 (IQR = 3). No videos showed breastfeeding or the use of sucrose/sweet solutions during the injection(s), and only four (3%) videos showed the infants being held in a front-to-front position during the injections. Distraction using talking or singing was the most commonly used (66%) pain management strategy.

Conclusions

YouTube videos of infants being immunized showed that infants were highly distressed during the procedures. There was no use of breastfeeding or sweet solutions and limited use of upright or front-to-front holding during the injections. This systematic review will be used as a baseline to evaluate the impact of future knowledge translation interventions using YouTube to improve pain management practices for infant immunizations.

Impact of prenatal education on maternal utilization of analgesic interventions at future infant vaccinations: a cluster randomized trial

Analgesic interventions are not routinely used during vaccine injections in infants. Parents report a desire to mitigate injection pain, but lack the knowledge about how to do so. The objective of this cluster-randomized trial was to evaluate the effect of a parent-directed prenatal education teaching module about vaccination pain management on analgesic utilization at future infant vaccinations. Expectant mothers enrolled in prenatal classes at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto were randomized to a 20-30minute interactive presentation about vaccination pain management (experimental group) or general vaccination information (control group). Both presentations included a PowerPoint (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA, USA) and video presentation, take-home pamphlet, and "Question and Answer" period. The primary outcome was self-reported utilization of breastfeeding, sugar water, or topical anaesthetics at routine 2-month infant vaccinations. Between October 2012 and July 2013, 197 expectant mothers from 28 prenatal classes participated; follow-up was obtained in 174 (88%). Maternal characteristics did not differ (P>0.05) between groups. Utilization of one or more prespecified pain interventions occurred in 34% of participants in the experimental group, compared to 17% in the control group (P=0.01). Inclusion of a pain management module in prenatal classes led to increased utilization of evidence-based pain management interventions by parents at the 2-month infant vaccination appointment. Educating parents offers a novel and effective way of improving the quality of pain care delivered to infants during vaccination. Additional research is needed to determine if utilization can be bolstered further using techniques such as postnatal hospital reinforcement, reminder cards, and clinician education.

Impact of a parent-directed pamphlet about pain management during infant vaccinations on maternal knowledge and behavior

PURPOSE

To evaluate the impact of a parent-directed instructional pamphlet about managing pain during infant vaccinations.

DESIGN AND SAMPLE

New mothers hospitalized following birth of an infant at two hospitals participated in a "before-and-after" study. In the "after" phase, the pamphlet was passively inserted in discharge packages at the intervention hospital.

MAIN OUTCOMES

Maternal knowledge and self-reported use of pain-management interventions during routine infant two-month vaccinations.

RESULTS

Altogether, 354 mothers participated. A two-way (site, phase) ANOVA revealed no interaction (site 3 phase) in knowledge or use of pain-management strategies after routine two-month infant vaccinations; hence, there was no evidence of a benefit provided by the pamphlet. However, within the intervention site, only 21 percent of mothers read the pamphlet. Reading the pamphlet was associated with higher knowledge. This suggests some possible benefits of the pamphlet, provided that mothers read it.

Knowledge translation of the HELPinKIDS clinical practice guideline for managing childhood vaccination pain: usability and knowledge uptake of educational materials directed to new parents

Background

Although numerous evidence-based and feasible interventions are available to treat pain from childhood vaccine injections, evidence indicates that children are not benefitting from this knowledge. Unrelieved vaccination pain puts children at risk for significant long-term harms including the development of needle fears and subsequent health care avoidance behaviours. Parents report that while they want to mitigate vaccination pain in their children, they lack knowledge about how to do so. An evidence-based clinical practice guideline for managing vaccination pain was recently developed in order to address this knowledge-to-care gap. Educational tools (pamphlet and video) for parents were included to facilitate knowledge transfer at the point of care. The objectives of this study were to evaluate usability and effectiveness in terms of knowledge acquisition from the pamphlet and video in parents of newly born infants.

Methods

Mixed methods design. Following heuristic usability evaluation of the pamphlet and video, parents of newborn infants reviewed revised versions of both tools and participated in individual and group interviews and individual knowledge testing. The knowledge test comprised of 10 true/false questions about the effectiveness of various pain management interventions, and was administered at three time points: at baseline, after review of the pamphlet, and after review of the video.

Results

Three overarching themes were identified from the interviews regarding usability of these educational tools: receptivity to learning, accessibility to information, and validity of information. Parents’ performance on the knowledge test improved (p≤0.001) from the baseline phase to after review of the pamphlet, and again from the pamphlet review phase to after review of the video.

Conclusions

Using a robust testing process, we demonstrated usability and conceptual knowledge acquisition from a parent-directed educational pamphlet and video about management of vaccination pain. Future studies are planned to determine the impact of these educational tools when introduced in clinical settings on parent behaviors during infant vaccinations.

Practices and perceptions regarding pain and pain management during routine childhood immunizations: Findings from a focus-group study with nurses working at Toronto Public Health, Ontario

INTRODUCTION

Despite the availability of a variety of evidence-based interventions, it has previously been reported that the majority of infants and children undergo vaccine injections without the benefit of analgesia. Nurses in public health administer a substantial number of injections; however, their attitudes and practices surrounding acute pain during vaccine injections have not been previously explored.

METHODS

A focus-group interview was conducted in Toronto, Ontario, with 10 nurses who immunize children. Participants reported their perceptions and practices with regard to vaccine injection pain and pain management.

RESULTS

THREE KEY THEMES EMERGED: environmental and process factors, perceptions regarding the effectiveness of different analgesic interventions, and perceptions regarding pain and fear. Participants reported a lack of control over their environment, resulting in fear and discomfort for children. They recommended increased support from external partners such as school teachers and administrators. Participants reported that pharmacological interventions, such as topical local anesthetics, were not used; however, psychological and physical interventions were commonly used. Nurses questioned the effectiveness of topical anesthetics, and indicated that more education was required regarding effective analgesic interventions. Needle pain was reported to be the most prominent concern for children undergoing vaccine injections, and children were described as being fearful.

DISCUSSION

Nurses reported vaccination setting, analgesic effectiveness and relative importance given to pain as important factors for pain and pain management during vaccine injections. Future studies should explore whether additional perspectives are present in vaccinators in other geographical regions. The effectiveness of educational resources and pain management programs aimed at improving current practices should be investigated.