Effects of applications manual pressure and shotblocker to reduce needle-related pain and fear in children with type 1 diabetes mellitus

Girgin B. A., GÖL İ., Gozen D., Carikci F., Kirmizibekmez H.

JOURNAL OF PEDIATRIC NURSING-NURSING CARE OF CHILDREN & FAMILIES, vol.73, pp.84-90, 2023 (SCI-Expanded, SSCI, Scopus)

Abstract

Background: Pain and fear associated with insulin injections can cause children with type 1 diabetes mellitus to avoid insulin injections and skip doses.Objective: To evaluate and compare pain and fear levels in children aged 6-12 years receiving subcutaneous insulin injection using the manual pressure and ShotBlocker methods.Methods: A randomized controlled study was conducted with 90 children with type 1 diabetes who were allo-cated using block randomization to the manual pressure, ShotBlocker, and control groups (n = 30 in each group). Fear and pain levels were rated by the children, their parents, and a member of the study team immediately before and after insulin injection using the Children's Fear Scale and Wong-Baker Faces Pain Rating Scale, respectively.Results: All groups had similar self-, parent-, and researcher-reported levels of preprocedural pain and fear (p > 0.05). However, pain and fear scores were lower in the manual pressure and ShotBlocker groups than in the control group after injection (p = 0.0001). There was no significant difference in pain and fear scores between the two intervention groups (p > 0.05). Conclusion: Manual pressure and the ShotBlocker both reduced fear and pain associated with insulin injection in 6-to 12-year-old children with type 1 diabetes. Implications for practice: Both the manual pressure and ShotBlocker methods can easily be applied in children receiving insulin injections. As manual pressure is completely cost-and equipment-free, it is a useful option to reduce pain and fear related to insulin injection.Clinical Trial Registration Number: National Institutes of Health (NIH), ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT05789810.