Maternal Presence During Children's Routine Immunizations: The Effect of Mother as Observer in Reducing Child Distress

Abstract

This study replicates and extends previous research examining the effect of mother presence versus absence on child distress in response to medical procedures. The effect of degree of maternal involvement during a routine immunization at a 5-year well-child visit to the pediatrician was examined. Behavioral observations of child distress and self-reported ratings of child affect were obtained in a repeated measures (pre, during, and post) design. Mother-child dyads (N=36) participated in one of four experimental conditions: (a) mother present as usual (routine), (b) mother absent (absent), (c) mother present as observer (watch), and (d) mother present as coping coach, using distraction (coach). Results support the efficacy of instructed, limited maternal involvement compared to routine procedures: Children in the watch condition showed less behavioral distress and their postinjection affect was more positive than children in the noninstructed, high maternal involvement, routine condition.

Psychological Interventions for Vaccine Injections in Children and Adolescents

“…Two trials including 46 children aged 3 to 7 years investigated the impact of verbal distraction. 29 , 36 Verbal distraction involved an adult attracting the child’s attention away from the needle by using their voice only; no additional physical, visual, or auditory distracter is used. In both trials, verbal distraction was provided by mothers who received instruction (written or oral) about how to engage in distraction with their child during the vaccine injection (eg, talking, counting, singing, reciting a poem/rhyme).…”

“…Relatively minor resources are needed to instruct parents in use of verbal distraction (eg, providing a pamphlet). 36 Furthermore, parents are typically present at vaccine injections with young children, making this a very feasible intervention to implement.…”

Guiding and Managing the Child Dental Patient: A Fresh Look at Old Pedagogy

“…Data from past studies suggest: a) no increase in negative patient behavior with parents present, 22-26 b) great parental interest in accompanying their child, 21,22 and c) improvements in patient management and anxiety reduction in medicine and dentistry when parents are effectively involved. 25,[27][28][29] Societal wishes and expectations lean strongly toward parental presence and involvement. Therefore, our job is to determine how best to use it in a way that is advantageous for the child patient and the dentist.…”

Ethnic Differences in Parent Preference to Be Present for Painful Medical Procedures

“…2,3 The effect of parental presence on children during medical procedures is unclear. Some studies have found that parental presence leads to calmer children, [4][5][6] others have found increased distress, 7,8 and others still have shown no effect. 9,10 The effect likely depends on individual parental responses, interactions, and coping skills.…”