Vol. 2, Issue 1, Part A (2025)

Anxiety during minor diagnostic and therapeutic procedures is a common but often under-addressed problem among Paediatric patients and can lead to heightened pain perception, reduced cooperation, and long-term fear of healthcare settings. Non-pharmacological interventions such as distraction, play, and storytelling have emerged as child-centred strategies to complement routine care, yet evidence specific to simple, nurse-delivered storytelling during minor procedures remains limited. This research aimed to assess whether a brief, structured storytelling intervention reduces anxiety in children undergoing minor procedures in a Paediatric unit.

Quasi-experimental research with two parallel groups (intervention and control) was conducted among Paediatric patients aged 5-12 years undergoing minor procedures such as venipuncture, intravenous cannulation, wound dressing, and nebulization. Children in the intervention group received a standardized, age-appropriate therapeutic story related to bravery, coping, and hospital experiences, narrated by the nurse for 8-10 minutes immediately before and, when feasible, during the procedure; the control group received routine care without storytelling. Anxiety was assessed using a validated observational child anxiety scale and a self-report visual analogue anxiety scale (for older children) at three time points: baseline (pre-waiting), immediately pre-procedure, and during the procedure. Physiological indicators (heart rate and respiratory rate) and procedural cooperation were recorded as secondary outcomes.

It is anticipated that children exposed to storytelling will show significantly lower behavioral and self-reported anxiety scores and more stable physiological parameters during procedures compared with controls, after adjusting for age, sex, type of procedure, and previous hospital experiences. The research is expected to demonstrate that a simple, low-cost storytelling protocol integrated into routine Paediatric nursing care can meaningfully decrease procedural anxiety and improve cooperation, offering a feasible, scalable, and culturally adaptable intervention for diverse clinical settings.