The Effect of Pain Management Program by Breastfeeding on Pain Responses in Newborns Undergoing Venipuncture*

Abstract

The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to examine the effect of pain management program by breastfeeding on pain response in newborn undergoing venipuncture. The subjects were 40 newborns, gestational age of 38-40 weeks, admitted to the sick newborn ward. The control group received routine nursing care while the experiment group received the pain management program by breastfeeding. The experimental pain management program by breastfeeding was tested for content validity. Data collection instrument, the neonatal infant pain scale, was validated by the back-translation technique and had the Cronbach’s alpha reliability of .89. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, independent t-test and repeated measures ANOVA with a Scheffe’s correction for multiple comparison. Major findings were as follow:

1. The experiment group had significantly lower pain responses at p-value < 0.05 on the physiological dimension to venipuncture at all compared minutes for heart rate but not for oxygen saturation. The mean difference of the heart rate at the 2^nd minute was lower than the 1^st, the 3^rd was lower than the 2^nd, and the 3^rd was lower than the 1^st. The mean difference of oxygen saturation at 3^rd minute was lower than the 1^st. The experiment group had significantly lower pain responses at p-value <0.05 on the behavioral responses to venipuncture at all compared minutes. The mean score of behavioral responses at the 2^nd minute was lower than the 1^st, the 3^rd was lower than the 2^nd and the 3^rd was lower than the 1^st.

2. Comparative between groups showed that the mean differences of the heart rate and oxygen saturation in the experimental group were lower than those of the control group at the 2^nd and 3^rd minutes (p-value <0.05). The mean scores of behavioral responses in the experimental group were lower than those of the control group at all minutes of comparison (p-value <0.05)