The Effect of Therapeutic Play During Peripheral Intravenous Catheterisation

The hospitalisation of children due to an acute or chronic illness interrupts play, disrupts their daily routines, places them in an unfamiliar environment, forces them to encounter with unfamiliar people, exposes them to invasive procedures, and makes them suffer from pain and anxiety. Peripheral intravenous catheterisation (PIVC) is probably the most common procedure performed in paediatric clinics. It has been estimated that 80% of hospitalised children have a peripheral intravenous catheter in place. PIVC is a painful and traumatic experience that children usually go through for the first time and frequently during the hospitalisation. This experience of children impairs effective communication between them and healthcare professionals and also causes problems in adaptation to the care and treatment process in the hospital setting. As one of the non-pharmacological pain relief methods, therapeutic play (TP) is a distraction that is defined as "the directed use of toys and materials, which can facilitate children to gain knowledge about the environment and the world they live in, to improve their perceptions thereof and to gain control, for a specific purpose". In order to call play with a child who is hospitalised as therapeutic, the play should encourage children to express their feelings and thoughts during the hospitalisation, assume an educational role in their positive or negative hospital experiences, and bring psychosocial and physical benefits. Children could be told facts such as the hospitalisation, the procedures to be followed and the time when this procedure would end through therapeutic play

Inclusion criteria

• 3-6 year-old children,
• had no mental disability,
• were able to communicate,
• and had mothers volunteered to participate

Exclusion criteria

• none