Comparative study to assess the effect of cartoon watching and distraction card on physiologic parameters and fear level during inhalation therapy in children

Background: Children are the world's most valuable resource and its best hope for the future. Distraction is a very common way to distract a child's attention from a potentially unpleasant procedure, lessen their fear, and help them relax. Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the effectiveness of cartoon-watching and distraction cards on physiological parameters and fear levels during inhalation therapy in children. Materials and Methods: A quasi-experimental study design was used in this study to monitor 60 children between the ages of 3 and 6 years selected by a simple random sampling method. Each of the cartoon and distraction groups had 30 children. A self-structured demographic performa and a standard Children Fear Scale were used to collect data from children. An unpaired t-test was used to estimate the effectiveness of the cartoon and distraction group among participants receiving inhalation therapy. Using the Chi-square test, the researcher looked at the association between fear and sociodemographic variables. Results: The difference between the mean after intervention pulse rates and respiratory rate of both groups was evaluated and it was found statistically significant (P < 0.05). The difference between the mean fear score in the cartoon group and the distraction card group was found to be statistically significant after the inhalation therapy (P < 0.0001). Conclusion: It was observed that the cartoon-watching therapy was better than the distraction card therapy in reducing the fear level during inhalation therapy among children. However, cartoon-watching and distraction cards were more significant on physiologic parameters and fear in children during inhalation therapy.