The Effectiveness of Nonpharmacological Interventions to Reduce Procedural Pain of Pediatric Oncology Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Background: Relieving procedural pain in pediatric oncology is an important facilitator of the cancer treatment process.

Objective: To synthesize the effect of nonpharmacological interventions on reducing the procedural pain of pediatric oncology patients in randomized controlled trials.

Methods: A meta-analysis and systematic review for randomized controlled trials. The PROSPERO has registered the meta-analytic approach used in this review. For studies published in English from the earliest record to May 2023, comprehensive and systematic literature searches were carried out using PubMed, Web of Science, CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature), Science Direct, Springer Link, Scopus, EMBASE, Ovid, ELSEVIER, ProQuest and the CENTRAL, and Taylor & Francis. Two researchers used the Cochrane Collaboration method to assess the risk of bias in the included studies.

Results: Four hundred ninety-four participants in 7 trials met the eligibility requirements. The primary findings showed no evidence of a significant publishing bias. This study revealed that nonpharmacological therapies significantly reduced procedural pain. Virtual reality techniques outperform nondigital distraction techniques in subgroup analysis of intervention types when it comes to lowering procedural pain in pediatric oncology patients.

Conclusion: In pediatric oncology, nonpharmacological therapies significantly and positively reduce procedural pain. No adverse events were reported in the included studies. Nonpharmacological therapies can be utilized by pediatric oncology nurses to mitigate procedural pain associated with needles.

Implications for practice: The findings of this study will contribute to the application of effective nonpharmacological interventions by clinical nurses and will provide guidance for the planning of further research.