Comparison of the effectiveness of two distraction techniques (inflating balloon and watching cartoon) in reducing the pain of DTP vaccine in school-age children

Pain caused by invasive procedures, such as vaccination, could be associated with mental tension and tissue damage in children. Therefore, one of the priorities of healthcare providers is to manage this pain. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of distraction using inflating balloons and watching cartoons on intensity of pain induced by diphtheria tetanus and pertussis (DPT) vaccine in school-age children.
This clinical trial was conducted on all school-age children, who were referred to Sayyid al-Shuhada healthcare center in Zahedan, Iran, 2015. In total, 120 patients were selected through convenience sampling. The subjects were randomly divided into three groups of 40. Participants of the first group were encouraged to inflate balloons throughout the vaccination process. On the other hand, subjects of the second group watched a cartoon from two minutes before to the end of the vaccination. No intervention was carried out for the control group. Pain intensity was measured immediately after vaccination using Face, Legs, Activity, Cry, Consolability scale (FLACC scale). Data analysis was performed in SPSS version 22 using descriptive statistics and One-way ANOVA test.
In this study, mean pain scores were 1.87±1.30, 1.40±0.87, and 3.22±1.38 in the first, second, and control groups, respectively. Results of the ANOVA test revealed a difference between the study groups regarding pain intensity (P According to the results of this study, two distraction methods of inflating balloon and watching cartoons could effectively decrease pain induced by DPT vaccine. Use of these techniques is recommended to manage pain in children as they are inexpensive and have no side effects.