Effectiveness of Cartoon Movie as a Distraction Strategy on Behavioural Response to Pain among Toddlers(1-3 Years) Receiving Immunization in Selected Immunization Clinics, Mangalore

Immunisation is the strengthening of the defence mechanism against infection. Untreated immunization pain causes undue distress. In addition to this, lack of pain control for injection is a barrier to immunistion. Distraction is an effective means to alter the behavioural response to pain by diverting the attention of the child from the immunization "shot". Cartoon movie is an effective distracter because of its audiovisual impact.The aim of the study was to assess the effectiveness of cartoon movie as a distraction strategy on behavioural response to pain among toddlers(1-3 years) receiving immunization.An experimental approach with quasi experimental design was used. The sample comprised of 60 children aged 1-3 years. The sample was selected using purposive sampling technique and randomly assigned to experimental and control group. FLACC behavioural pain assessment scale was used to assess the behavioural response to pain in children.The result shown that, control group had significant higher behavioural pain response score than of experimental group who were distracted with cartoon movie. Highest percentage (56.7%) of sample in the experimental group showed moderate pain whereas in the control group majority (66.7%) showed severe pain. Unpaired t test showed the difference was significant at 0.05 level of significance ((t₍₅₈₎=7.557, p<0.05). There was no significant association of behavioural response to pain with selected demographic variables except age group. Hence it is revealed that cartoon movie is an effective distraction method to reducing the behavioural response to pain among children.