Open AccessEFFECTIVENESS OF AUDIOVISUAL DISTRACTION IN REDUCING ANXIETY AMONG HOSPITALIZED PRESCHOOL CHILDREN ADMITTED TO SELECTED TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL IN, BELAGAVI CITY
Author(s) -
Suvechhya Dewan,
Nisha Thapa,
Pooja Gauro
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
international journal of advanced research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2320-5407
DOI - 10.21474/ijar01/14484
Subject(s) - distraction , anxiety , psychosocial , medicine , tertiary care , residence , clinical psychology , psychology , psychiatry , family medicine , demography , neuroscience , sociology
Background:Children between the ages of 3 and 6 years old are preschoolers. During the preschool phase, biological, psychosocial, emotional, moral, and social accomplishments are integrated. Preschoolers are pre-operational thinkers who believe in tangible presentation rather than concepts. Therefore, medical instruments and the hospital environment cause anxiety in them. Hospital admission is a traumatic event for both kids and adults, who unexpectedly have to abandon their comfortable residence and the people who are precious to them and avoid their enjoyable pastimes. Aim:This study aims to assess the effectiveness of audiovisual distraction in reducing hospitalization anxiety. Methods: This study used a pre-experimental (one group pretest-posttest) research design. Fifty preschoolers were selected using a non-probability convenient sampling technique. Anxiety was, evaluated using the Visual Analogue Scale for anxiety. Results:During the pretest, 60% of children had severe anxiety, 40% had mild anxiety after the audiovisual distraction, 62% had no anxiety, and 38% had mild anxiety. The mean anxiety level in the pretest score was 6.88, and the post-test score was 3.14, and the P-value was <0.0001. Findings revealed that audiovisual distraction effectively reduces the level of anxiety among hospitalized preschoolers. History and duration of the previous hospitalization have a significant association with the level of anxiety. Conclusions: Audiovisual distraction is effective in reducing anxiety among hospitalized preschoolers.