Anxiety Control Methods in Hospitalized Children: A Narrative Review

Main Article Content

Mehrdad Malekshoar, Roohie Farzaneh, Behrang Rezvani Kakhki

Abstract

Introduction: Child hospitalization is one of the sources of anxiety for both the child and his/her parents. Among the strategies for reducing anxiety, non-pharmacological strategies are investigated in the literature compared to pharmacological ones.


Method: The present study was a narrative review study. In this study, to find related studies, the researchers conducted a computer search in the Persian language databases of SID, Magiran, and Google Scholar with the keywords of Persian words including “anxiety”, “children”, and “hospital”; they did. The search for studies was done without any time limit.


Result: Thirty-three articles were included in this study. Methods reported in the literature to control children's anxiety in the hospital included playing room, massage therapy, psychological preparation, distraction by bubble-making and drawing, aerobic exercises, play therapy techniques, levy approach play therapy, Vapocoolant spray, EMLA cream, parental presence, laugh therapy, aromatherapy of orange essential oil, group story therapy, educative story books, face-to-face training, preparation, puppet, uniforms, therapeutic touch, watching the cartoon, and music therapy. These interventions were supported by randomized and semi-experimental trials.


Conclusion:  Numerous interventions are available for anxiety control for the hospitalized child that health care providers could choose based on the available facilities. Hospital managers and health care authorities should include such facilities in hospitals providing care for children.

Article Details

Section
Articles