Effectiveness of play therapy on level of pain perception among toddlers receiving intramuscular injection at K. C. Multispeciality Hospital, Avadi, Chennai. 2010-2011

The prick of the needle in any part of the body is painful. Intramuscular injections are a fairly uncomfortable invasive procedure. Relief of pain is a basic need and right of all children. Care should be taken to reduce the amount of discomfort a person has to endure while receiving this type of injection. Pediatric nursing is traditionally involved in professional and competent care of children. Play therapy, a non-pharmacological method act as an effective tool on procedural pain perception among toddlers. A study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of play therapy on level of pain perception among toddlers receiving intramuscular injection at K. C. Multispeciality Hospital, Avadi, Chennai. 2010-2011. The objective of the study was to compare the effectiveness of play therapy on level of pain perception among experimental and control group. The study was conducted by adopting a quasi experimental post test only control group design. 60 toddlers who fulfilled inclusion criteria were selected and assigned 30 in experimental and 30 in control group by non-probability purposive sampling technique. The conceptual framework adopted was based on Weidenbach‟s Helping Art of Clinical Nursing. In experimental group, the play therapy was given with sound producing dancing doll during intramuscular injection. Similarly in control group, no intervention was given during intramuscular injection and post test level of pain perception was assessed by using behavior pain assessment scale score. Analysis revealed that the toddler in experimental group showed a highly significant decrease in level of pain perception at p