Table 1 Characteristics of included 13 RCTs
RCT | Country | Sample size | Age(years) | Procedure | Intervention | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Passive distraction | Active distraction | Passive distraction | Active distraction | ||||
Abdelmoniem 2016 | Egypt | 30 | 30 | 4 ~ 9 | Dental restoration operation | Listen to the same song with headphones | Move the legs up and down as a way to play games |
Arıkan 2020 | Turkey | 72 | 72 | 6 ~ 12 | Blood sampling collection | Toy wristband | Rotatable wooden toy |
Attar 2015 | Saudi Arabia | 39 | 39 | 4 ~ 8 | Dental restoration treatment | Local anesthesia and watching TV | Local anesthesia and watching TV through iPad |
Aydin 2016 | Turkey | 30 | 30 | 6 ~ 12 | Venipuncture | Music of cartoons | Distraction cards: covered with a variety of pictures and shapes, the researchers asked questions about these cards |
Aydin 2017 | Turkey | 50 | 50 | 7 ~ 12 | Venipuncture | Choose one of the 20 Turkish pop songs stored in the tablet and play it all the way. | Distraction card |
Bellieni 2006 | Italy | 23 | 23 | 7 ~ 12 | Venipuncture | Watch age-appropriate cartoon movies on TV at least 120 s before venipuncture, and then without other interference. | Mother and child interact and disperse each other by talking, touching, and comforting during venipuncture. |
Canbulat 2014 | Turkey | 62 | 63 | 7 ~ 11 | Venipuncture | Kaleidoscope | Distraction cards: covered with a variety of pictures and shapes, the researchers asked questions about these cards |
Crevatin 2016 | Italy | 100 | 100 | 4 ~ 13 | Venipuncture | Nurses instruct children to sing songs, read books, etc. | Tablets play games: angry Birds |
Newell 2018 | Ireland | 24 | 24 | 6 ~ 12 | Venipuncture | Use the same electronic tablet to watch pre-recorded videos of the same video game | Use the tablet to play games |
Nilsson 2013 | Sweden | 20 | 20 | 5 ~ 12 | Wound dressing change | Children choose from blue, green, red, orange and yellow lollipops. Lollipops were licked 3–5 min before wound care and lasted the whole course of treatment. | Children began to play 3 ~ 5 min before the start of wound care, and continued to play different game paths throughout the process. |
Shekhar 2022 | India | 41 | 41 | 8 ~ 12 | Dental treatment | Stress ball | Audio-visual eyeglasses |
Xiang 2021 | USA | 30 | 31 | 6 ~ 16 | Burn injury wound care | Immersing in the same VR environment without interactions | playing a virtual reality game |
Zheng 2011 | China | 30 | 30 | 3 ~ 7 | Venipuncture | Showing animated films | Interactive toy |