Effect of Expressive Arts Therapy Interventions on Comfort of Children Undergoing Surgery

Abstract

Context: Children undergoing surgery may experience pain and discomfort. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to completely prevent postoperative pain and discomfort with analgesics. Therefore, there is an increasing interest in non-pharmacological interventions through expressive arts therapy.

Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of expressive arts therapy interventions on the comfort of children undergoing surgery.

Methods: A quasi-experimental design utilized in this study. This study conducted at the Pediatric Surgical Department in Children's Hospital affiliated to Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt, on a purposive sample of 84 children undergoing surgery. Children randomly assigned to two equal groups (control group 42 and study group 42). A child's assessment record was used to gather data related to characteristics of the studied children and surgery data. Pain assessment record to assess the child's physiological and physical parameters of pain. A Numeric Pain Rating Scale to assess a child's pain intensity. State-Trait-Anxiety Inventory for Children to measure anxiety levels.  Besides, A Comfort Assessment Scale to assess children's numerical pain intensity and discomfort.

Results: There are statistically significant differences in mean pain intensity scores were observed between the control and study groups on the second day after surgery and before discharge (p > 0.05). The mean anxiety scores were significantly lower in the study group compared to the control group in the day after surgery and before discharge (p < 0.05). Also, there were observed improvements in mean comfort scores between the study and the control group on the day after surgery scores and on the day of discharge with a statistically significant difference (p < 0.05). There were statistically significant differences at (p-value=0.000) between children in the control and study group regarding children's postoperative pain intensity, anxiety levels, and comfort scores.

Conclusion: The application of expressive arts therapy interventions was positively improving comfort and reducing pain intensity and anxiety levels among children undergoing surgery in the study group compared to the controls, emphasizing the importance of using expressive arts therapy interventions for improving children's postoperative comfort.