Development of scale to assess young children's positive behaviour in medical treatments, procedures and examinations

Abstract

Many children around the world fear needles and stressful medical treatments. In order to create a stress-free environment, a researcher at Sapporo Medical University is using the Japanese concept of ganbatta to ensure that children’s voices are heard. The hospital is usually not a fun place for children to visit – it is commonly associated with a sense of fear, anxiety and worry, especially when painful treatments are concerned. At Sapporo Medical University, Tsuyoshi Asari is working to shed light on this issue by conducting research that focuses on the experience from a child’s perspective. Unusually, Asari’s research concentrates on the positive aspects of painful procedures rather than the negative. While it is natural that children will have a fear of needles or anything foreign they may have to experience at the hospital, by focussing on the positivity they may experience, Asari hopes to improve hospitals’ ability to prepare a stress-free experience for the child. Here is where the notion of ‘ganbatta’ becomes relevant. Ganbatta (the past tense of ‘ganbaru’) is roughly equivalent to the English ‘well done’ and is often used to praise children. By using this word in the past tense, it clarifies that the pain is over and relieves the child from his or her suffering. Through his experience in paediatric nursing, Asari has observed that, by demonstrating ganbatta, children often overcome their fears and experience positive psychological and emotional benefits. He now aims to help health professionals better understand and harness this positive outcome in order to improve paediatric healthcare delivery and diminish stress and fear for children. In order to better understand ganbatta, Asari conducted a research project looking at ganbatta behaviours and experiences in relation to the blood sampling or vaccination of children between the ages of three and seven. This involved interviewing parents who were present during the medical procedure and nurses who had carried out the procedure.