Effect of Helfer Skin Tap Technique on Reducing Pain levels Among Newborn Receiving Hepatitis B - vaccine

Abstract

Background:The neonatal reactions to painful procedures are equal to but stronger than adult reactions, especially for an invasive procedure. Helfer skin tapping technique is an important intervention to be practiced by nurses and parents for effective pain management in children. Aim: To evaluate the effect of Helfer skin tap technique on reducing pain levels among newborns receiving the Hepatitis B-vaccine. Research design: Two groups post test quasi-experimental research design (control and study groups) was used in this study. Sample: A purposeful sample of 80 newborns was divided into two equal groups control and study group. Setting: The current study was conducted in the delivery unit at Minia General Hospital. Tools: Part 1: Personal characteristics of the newborn such as age/hours after birth, sex, and type of delivery. Part Ⅱ: Neonatal Infant Pain Scale (NIPS) for assessing pain level in newborns during and immediately after administration of hepatitis B-vaccine: Results: There was a reduction in the total mean scores of pain level in the study group were 2.0 and 1.7during and immediately after intramuscular injection of hepatitis B-vaccine respectively, while in control group means were 2.6 and 3.4 respectively with statistically significant differences. But no statistically significant differences between total pain level and the newborns' age, sex, and mode of delivery. Conclusion: The current study concluded that applying Helfer skin tapping technique is more effective for pain reduction among newborns receiving the hepatitis B -vaccine with statistically significant diffrences. There were no statistically significant differences between the level of pain and the newborn's demographic characteristics. Recommendations: Training programs on applying Helfer skin tap technique during vaccination of newborn infants should be conducted for nurses in the hospital setting as well as in immunization centers to reduce pain.

A comparison of the effect on pain management of two non‐pharmacological methods used during administration of Pfizer–BioNTech COVID‐19 vaccine (BNT162b2): A randomized controlled study

“…Non‐pharmacological interventions used in pain management in adults are generally divided into two: physical and cognitive‐behavioral (Dikmen & Ziyai, 2021). Widely used physical techniques are cold application (Bilgiç, 2021; Karabey & Karagozoglu, 2020), acupressure (Inangil & Inangil, 2020), manual pressure (Bilgiç, 2021), the ShotBlocker apparatus, providing mechano‐analgesia (Şahan & Yildiz, 2022), Helfer's skin tap technique or tapping over the skin (Mohamed et al, 2021), and local vibration (Khanjari et al, 2021; Redfern et al, 2019; Savcı et al, 2022). Cognitive‐behavioral approaches are procedures to direct the attention elsewhere or to relax (Şıktaş & Uysal, 2022).…”