Vaccination
Conditions
Keywords
vaccination, pain, fear, psychological intervention
Brief summary
It is common for people to advise individuals undergoing vaccination to look away from the needle to make them hurt less and be less scary. However, this advice is not backed up by research evidence. the purpose of this study is to learn about how looking away vs. looking at the needle during vaccination makes people feel. People will be randomized to 1 of 2 groups: look at the needle, look away. Then they will undergo vaccination and report on pain and fear experienced.
Detailed description
It is common for people to advise individuals undergoing vaccination to look away from the needle to make them hurt less and be less scary. However, this advice is not backed up by experimental research evidence. It is possible that looking away acts as a distraction and takes attention away from the needle, thus reducing pain. However, it is also possible that looking at the needle is better because it prevents people's imaginations from making them think it is worse than it actually is. To our knowledge, this is the first first randomized study to examine the effect of looking away vs. looking at the needle on pain and fear experienced during vaccinations. Adult university students undergoing routine flu vaccination will be included.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALLook away from the needle
Participant looks away from the needle during vaccination
BEHAVIORALLook at the needle
Participant looks at the needle during vaccination
Sponsors
University of Toronto
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Toronto's Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy undergoing flu vaccination
Exclusion criteria
* less than 18 years of age or prior participation in the trial
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Pain | immediately after vaccination (<5 minutes) | self-reported pain assessed after vaccination using a numerical rating scale (0-10) |
| Fear | immediately after vaccination (<5 minutes) | self-reported fear assessed after vaccination using a numerical rating scale (0-10) |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Duration of appointment | immediately after vaccination | Amount of time taken for appointment as per clock |
| Attrition of participants | immediately after vaccination | number of participants that are lost/drop-out of study |
| Recruitment rate | before vaccination (1 day to 4 weeks) | percentage of people eligible that participate |
| Fidelity of intervention | During vaccination | Compliance with instruction to look at the needle or look away, according to checklist |
| Preferences of participants | immediately after vaccination (<5 minutes) | participant preferences about interventions according to questionnaire |
| Feasibility of recruitment of subjects in the 2 study strata (i.e., preference to look or not look) | immediately before vaccination (<5 minutes) | percentage of individuals that prefer to look or not look at baseline |
Countries
Canada
Contacts
Primary ContactAnna Taddio, PhD
Outcome results
None listed