The Effect of Manual Pressure Applied on Infants Before Vaccine Injection on Pain Level and Crying Time

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the effect of manual pressure applied to the injection site before vaccine injection on the level of pain and crying time of 4-month-old infants. Methods: This study was a randomized controlled trial. The sample of the study included 70 infants (35 infants in the intervention and 35 in the control groups). Research data were collected using an “Information Form”, the FLACC Pain Assessment Scale, and a stopwatch. Before the procedure, manual pressure was applied to the injection site with the thumb for 10 seconds to the infants in the intervention group. No non-pharmacological method was applied to the infants in the control group before vaccination. Pain scores of the infants were evaluated during and after the vaccine injection, and total crying times were recorded. Results: It was found that the pain score of the control group (6.37±1.92) was higher than that of the intervention group (4.40±2.32) (p<0.05) during the procedure. The pain score of the control group after the procedure (6.86±1.97) was significantly higher than the intervention group (3.00±2.00) (p<0.05). The mean crying time of the infants in the intervention group (5.68±5.54 seconds) was significantly shorter than the infants in the control group (81.67±31.31 seconds) (p<0.05). Conclusion: In this study, manual pressure applied before injection was found to be effective in reducing the pain of infants. Manual pressure is an easy-to-apply, non-time-consuming, and cost-effective method.