Advances in Nursing & Midwifery

Abstract

Background and aim: Medical procedures, particularly injection, cause anxiety in children. Coping
with invasive medical treatment is an important issue for all children, particularly chronically ill
children such as thalassemic children who may have to endure many treatment procedures. This
study examined the effect of breathing exersice on the anxiety resulted from the injection procedure
in thalassemic school-age children in Kerman thalassemia center
Materials and Methods: In this clinical trial, 40 thalassemia children with 6-12 years old, in
Kerman thalasemia center were selected through convenience sampling method. Then subjects were
randomly allocated in two groups (experimental group and control group). In experimental group,
bubble making was used. Data collection tools were: Demographic Information Questionnaire, and
the Scale of facial self reported anxiety. The analysis of the data was carried out through SPSS 16.
Findings: Average score of anxiety in bubble making group was 2.9+1.5 before and 1.0+1.1 after
injection. The average score in control group was 3.1+2.2 before and 2.4 + 2.1after injection. There
was no significant difference between two groups of study regarding the average scores of anxiety
before the injection (p>0.05) but there was a significant difference between two groups regarding
the average scores of anxiety after the injection (p>0.05).
Conclusion: The results of this study showed that bubble making is an effective method to decrease
anxiety resulted from the injection procedures.
Key words: Anxiety, Bubble making, School-age Children, Distraction, Thalassemia