Distraction for Pain Management in Young Children: Understanding the Role of Selective Attention and Development

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dc.contributor.advisorDahlquist, Lynnda M.
dc.contributor.authorWohlheiter, Karen A.
dc.contributor.departmentPsychology
dc.contributor.programPsychology
dc.date.accessioned2015-10-14T03:14:28Z
dc.date.available2015-10-14T03:14:28Z
dc.date.issued2011-01-01
dc.description.abstractDistraction has been shown to successfully decrease pain and behavioral distress in children experiencing invasive medical procedures and to increase children's pain tolerance during experimental pain exposure. Considering that attention plays an integral role in engaging in distraction, it is likely that developmental differences in selective attention skills, including inhibition and set shifting skills, influence children's differential response to interactive and passive distraction. Sixty-five 3- to 6- year old children were recruited to participate in this study. Children underwent three cold pressor trials: while receiving no intervention, playing a videogame or watching a videogame. Parents completed questionnaires and children completed a subscale from the NEPSY. The results of this study support the utility of distraction as a pain management technique for preschool and young school aged children. Both younger and older children benefited more from interactive distraction than passive distraction. Although older children demonstrated superior pain tolerance overall, age and selective attention skills did not moderate children's responses to the videogame distraction intervention. This lack of moderation may reflect the fact that the distraction task used in this study was carefully selected to be developmentally appropriate for preschoolers. Developmental issues may be more crucial moderators of children's responses to distraction when the task demands of the distraction intervention are more challenging--e.g., when the distraction task itself is more difficult or when the competing environmental pain stimuli are more intense or distressing.
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dc.identifierdoi:10.13016/M2RQ47
dc.identifier.other10477
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11603/1099
dc.languageen
dc.relation.isAvailableAtThe University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Theses and Dissertations Collection
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Graduate School Collection
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Student Collection
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Psychology Department Collection
dc.rightsThis item may be protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. It is made available by UMBC for non-commercial research and education. For permission to publish or reproduce, please see http://aok.lib.umbc.edu/specoll/repro.php or contact Special Collections at speccoll(at)umbc.edu.
dc.sourceOriginal File Name: Wohlheiter_umbc_0434D_10477.pdf
dc.subjectAcute Pain
dc.subjectAttention
dc.subjectChildren
dc.subjectDevelopment
dc.subjectDistraction
dc.subjectVideogames
dc.titleDistraction for Pain Management in Young Children: Understanding the Role of Selective Attention and Development
dc.typeText
dcterms.accessRightsAccess limited to the UMBC community. Item may possibly be obtained via Interlibrary Loan through a local library, pending author/copyright holder's permission.

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