The effects of the game intervention on postoperative anxiety and pain levels in children: A randomized controlled study

INTRODUCTION: Aim: Surgery is a stressful and painful experience for children and it is important to control postoperative anxiety and pain. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of game intervention on postoperative anxiety and pain levels in children.

METHODS: Materials and methods: A randomized controlled trial design was employed in the current study. Seventeen children in the intervention group started to play the game at their bedside with their parents at 15 minutes after arrival to the service from the recovery room (pre-intervention period); while the twenty children in the control group only obtained the routing service protocol without a game intervention. The effectiveness of the game intervention was assessed at 60 minutes after arrival to the service from the recovery room (post-intervention period) using Facial Affective Scale for anxiety and Visual Analog Scale for pain. Analgesic needs of children after the surgery were recorded.
RESULTS: Results: In both groups, the pre-intervention anxiety and pain were significantly decreased in the post-intervention period (p<0.05). The reduction of anxiety in the control group was significantly higher than the intervention group (p=0.006) and there was no significant difference between post-intervention pain levels of groups. The rate of analgesic need in the control group was significantly higher than the rate of the intervention group (p=0.048).
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Conclusions: The results indicate that children who play the game intervention with their parents have no lower levels of anxiety or pain than children in the control group; however, it was effective at decreasing both anxiety and pain levels after surgery. Based on the decreased rates of analgesic needs, it is recommended that nurses encourage parents to play with their children after surgery.