Holistic Comfort Interventions for Pediatric Nursing Procedures: A Systematic Review

Comfort interventions for children during invasive nursing procedures have been well documented in the literature. It is important, however, to distinguish between the provision of holistic comfort management and pain alleviation. Holistic comfort focuses on treating the child’s whole procedural experience and includes more than simply reducing pain. In this literature review, 33 intervention studies were examined. These studies focused on evaluating comfort effects from nursing interventions on pain, anxiety, fear, and distress. Four themes of procedural comfort intervention emerged: music therapy, amusement and entertainment, caregiver facilitation, and a multifaceted approach. Important findings of this review, gaps in the literature, and implications for future research are discussed.