Adult-child interaction during invasive medical procedures.
Adult-child interactions during stressful medical procedures were investigated in 43 pediatric patients videotaped during a venipuncture procedure in the course of cancer treatment. Relations among six adult behavior categories (explain, distract, command to engage in coping behavior, give control to the child, praise, and criticize/threat/bargain) and three child behavior categories (momentary distress, cry/scream, and cope) were examined using correlational and sequential analysis. Results indicated that adult distraction resulted in increased child coping and reduced momentary distress and crying. Adult explanations, although a likely response to child distress and crying, did not result in a reduction of these behaviors. Attempts to give the child control reduced child crying. Implications for clinical interventions during painful medical procedures are discussed.
Manne
S L
SL
Psychiatry Service, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10021.
Bakeman
R
R
Jacobsen
P B
PB
Gorfinkle
K
K
Bernstein
D
D
Redd
W H
WH
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D001815:Bloodletting / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D013315:Stress, Psychological