Effects of Enjoyable Koala Innovation on Fear of Nebulizer Treatment in Pre–school Child Patients with Respiratory Infection

Abstract

         This quasi–experimental research aimed to study the effects of enjoyable Koala innovation on fearing of nebulizer treatment in pre–school children patients with respiratory infections. The samples were 30 pre–school child patients with respiratory infections and treated with nebulizer. They were selected by purposive sampling. The random assignment was used to enroll patients into control and experimental groups, 15 patients in each group. The control group was received normal nursing care for nebulizer treatment. The experimental group utilized the koala innovation to divert attention and reduce the fear during nebulizer treatment including 1) distraction by wearing a koala suit and 2) distraction by letting the children turn on the sound button before wearing the nebulizer face mask. The data collection tool was the observation form of fear behavior against nebulizer treatment. Data were analyzed using the descriptive statistics and Independent t–test.

          The results showed that after the experiment, the experimental group had the mean score of fear (X ̅ = 10.80, S.D. = 5.583) lower than that of control group (X ̅ = 32.87, S.D. = 11.594)with statistical significance at the level of 0.05. The koala innovation could be used as a guideline for deviation in reducing the fear of nebulizer treatment in pre–school child patients with respiratory infections.

          Keywords: Pre–school child, Nebulizer treatment, Fear