The Effect of a Multi-Dimensional Play Program on Children's Pain Intensity During Burn Dressing Change in Burn Intensive Care Units: A Clinical Trial

Playing is one of the recommended tools in recent years for decreasing pain in children having painful and stressful experiences. It can also help these children cope with such situations.
This study was performed with the aim of assessing the effect of a multidimensional play program on pain intensity during wound dressing change in children hospitalized in burn intensive care units.
In this clinical trial, forty 7 to 12-year-old children, hospitalized in burn intensive care units of Imam Mousa Kazem (SA) medical educational center in Isfahan, were selected through simple random sampling and were divided into 2 groups. The multidimensional play program was applied for children in the experimental group. Finally, pain intensity was assessed in the groups, using Wong-Baker’s pain rating scale. In addition, the results were documented in the pre and posttest stages, and data analysis was performed using statistical tests.
The children’s average pain scores of burn dressing change before and after the intervention were 8.6 ± 0.9 and 5.5 ± 1.3 in the experimental group and 8.7 ± 0.8 and 8.4 ± 0.8 in the control group, respectively. According to the t test results, there was a significant difference between the groups in terms of pain intensity after burn dressing change in the posttest (P This study indicated that application of a multidimensional play program can be useful in decreasing children’s pain intensity during burn dressing changes.