A GameBoy as a Distraction Before Surgery in Children
Public ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT00176670. Field values are reproduced from the official study page; the official ClinicalTrials.gov record remains the source of truth for eligibility, enrollment, and contact information.
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Official title
Is Preoperative Distraction With a Hand Held Game Boy as Effective as Midazolam in Reducing Preoperative Anxiety Levels in Children?
Brief summary
Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.
Preoperative anxiety is characterized by subjective feelings of tension, apprehension, nervousness and worry. In children, preoperative anxiety is reported to result in postoperative negative psychological effects, including nightmares, separation anxiety, eating problems and increased fear of doctors. Anxiety in children can be expressed in many forms. Many children look scared, become agitated, breathe deeply, tremble, and stop talking or playing and start to cry. They may unexpectedly urinate or may actively attempt to escape from the medical personnel. These reactions reflect the child's fear of separation from the parents, as well as loss of control, unfamiliar routines, instruments and hospital procedures \[1\]. Previous studies have assessed anxiety in children during the preoperative period and the effects of premedication and parental presence during induction of anesthesia (PPIA) \[2\]. Midazolam has been proven to reduce preoperative anxiety in children \[3\]. Side effects related to oral midazolam administered to healthy children are minimal and the drug can be reversed with flumazenil but post operative recovery may be delayed in those children undergoing a short surgical procedure. It is the experience of the investigator that there are some children who have such low levels of anxiety they do not require any intervention Distraction may be particularly helpful in children ages 6-12 as these children may not receive preoperative medication due to their curiosity about the environment. Previous studies regarding distraction therapy have focused on the parent either blowing bubbles or reading to a child \[4\]. Studies where the child is actively engaged in a distraction activity have not been documented. The purpose of this investigation is to determine whether in the presence of a parent an interactive distraction intervention, i.e. Game Boy which is a hand held video game, is as effective as preoperative Midazolam in reducing preoperative anxiety. This study may help in the search for a low cost and easy to implement method of reducing anxiety for children undergoing surgery.
Study identification
- NCT ID
- NCT00176670
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase 2
- Enrollment
- 158 participants
Conditions and interventions
Conditions
Eligibility (public fields only)
- Age range
- 4 Years to 16 Years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Healthy volunteers not accepted
This page does not interpret eligibility. Detailed inclusion and exclusion criteria are on the official ClinicalTrials.gov record.
Study timeline
- Start date
- Dec 31, 2003
- Primary completion
- Mar 31, 2006
- Completion
- Mar 31, 2006
- Last update posted
- Oct 5, 2016
2004 – 2006
United States locations
- U.S. sites
- 1
- U.S. states
- 1
- U.S. cities
- 1
| Facility | City | State | ZIP | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Jersey Medical School | Newark | New Jersey | 07103 | — |
Site contact phone numbers, emails, and investigator names are intentionally not displayed here. Open the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for site contact information.
About this trial record page
- What this page shows
- Public field values for ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT00176670, including study identification, conditions, interventions, eligibility (age, sex, healthy volunteer), timeline, and U.S. site list.
- What this page does not do
- No medical advice, eligibility judgments, treatment recommendations, study quality scoring, or AI-generated medical summaries. No site contact phone numbers, emails, or investigator names.
- Where the data comes from
- Sourced from the official ClinicalTrials.gov public API. The official record is the source of truth.
- Last refresh
- Last update posted Oct 5, 2016 · Synced Sep 2, 2026
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Open the official record
The complete protocol, eligibility criteria, and contact information for NCT00176670 live on ClinicalTrials.gov.