Date of Graduation

2003

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MA

Committee Chair

Lindsey L. Cohen

Abstract

Distraction has been used successfully as an intervention to decrease children’s distress during painful procedures. However, distraction protocols differ in various ways, most notably in the attention required by the participant to engage in the distraction. This study compared two empirically supported distraction strategies that differed in the degree to which they required children’s interaction (interactive toy and cartoon movie) during venipunctures. Standard treatment was used as a control condition. In addition to the examination of treatment effects, exploratory analyses evaluated relations among children’s age, engagement in distraction, and distress. Results indicated that children watching the movie were more distracted and less distressed than children playing with the interactive toy. Exploratory analyses revealed a significant inverse relation between children’s engagement in distraction and their distress. Additionally, a significant positive relation between child age and their engagement in distraction and child age and distress in the interactive toy condition was evidenced.

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