Trial reportPain research & management
Toy-mediated distraction: clarifying the role of agent of distraction and preneedle distress in toddlers.
Trial report in Pain research & management. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Psychological Interventions for Reducing Distress During Vaccine Injections.The Clinical journal of pain · 2026Pooled it
- Non-pharmacological management of infant and young child procedural pain.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2023Pooled it
- Psychological interventions for needle-related procedural pain and distress in children and adolescents.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2018Pooled it
- Non-pharmacological management of infant and young child procedural pain.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2015Pooled it
- Psychological Interventions for Vaccine Injections in Young Children 0 to 3 Years: Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials and Quasi-Randomized Controlled Trials.The Clinical journal of pain · 2015Pooled it
- Management of critical care emergencies in children with autism spectrum disorder.World journal of critical care medicine · 2025Article
- Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundDistraction has recently gained attention as a technique that may help reduce acute pain in infants and toddlers; however, results remain equivocal. It appears that these mixed results stem from a variety of methodological differences with regard to how distraction is implemented.
objectivesTo offer more definitive conclusions regarding the efficacy and mechanisms of distraction for pain management during infancy. Specifically, the goal was to examine whether the agent of distraction (i.e., the specific person conducting the distraction) and preneedle distress behaviours impact the efficacy of distraction when toddlers were held by parents.
methodsA total of 99 toddlers were randomly assigned to one of three conditions (typical care, research assistant-directed distraction or parent-directed distraction). Toddler distress behaviours were assessed pre- and postneedle. Toddlers were further grouped according to distress behaviours preneedle (low⁄no distress versus high distress). Parental soothing behaviours were also assessed as a manipulation check.
resultsToddler postneedle pain did not significantly differ among groups. However, toddlers who were distressed preneedle displayed significantly more pain postneedle, regardless of the treatment group. There were no significant interactions between treatment group and preneedle distress behaviours.
conclusionsThese results suggest that, when being held by a parent, distraction using a toy does not result in lower pain scores in the context of immunization, regardless of who offers the distraction. Furthermore, these findings raise the notion that if clinicians ensured toddlers were regulated before attempting an immunization, postneedle pain may be significantly reduced.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.