Exploring Holistic Comfort in Children Who Experience a Clinical Venipuncture Procedure

Purpose: Children often experience the uncomfortable effects of invasive procedures as a part of primary care and during times of illness. Holistic comfort has been well documented in adult literature but little research exists on the understanding of holistic procedural comfort from the child's perspective. In this study, holistic comfort related to an invasive venipuncture procedure was explored in children age 5 to 7 years and their caregivers of all ages. Design: A qualitative descriptive design described by Sandelowski was used. Method: The philosophical underpinnings of naturalistic inquiry of Guba and Lincoln were used. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 13 child and 15 caregiver participants. Children also drew pictures to help describe their perceptions. Findings: Traditional thematic content analysis described by Hsieh and Shannon yielded four overarching themes of holistic comfort related to venipuncture procedures in children: Body Comfort, Cognitive and Emotional Comfort, Comfort in the Procedure Surroundings, and Comfort Play. Conclusions: Numerous recommendations for future research are included. Implications for nursing and related health sciences, organizational and administrative policy, invasive procedures, theory, and methods were found and are discussed. Findings from this study will assist nurses in providing procedure management for children from a holistic care perspective.