Title

Effect of storytelling on reducing procedural distress among pediatric patients

Authors

Bhasara Kalpana Ramji¹, B. Mahalakshmi^1,* & N. Siva Subramanian²

Affiliation

¹Department of Pediatric Nursing, Nootan College of Nursing, Sankalchand Patel University, Visnagar, Gujarat, India; ²Department of Psychiatric Nursing, Nootan College of Nursing, Sankalchand Patel University, Visnagar, Gujarat, India; *Corresponding author

Email

Bhasara Kalpana Ramji - E-mail: kalpanabhasara@gmail.com
B. Mahalakshmi - E-mail: mb.fn@spu.ac.in
N. Siva Subramanian - E-mail: sn.fn@spu.ac.in

Article Type

Research Article

Date

Received October 1, 2025; Revised October 31, 2025; Accepted October 31, 2025, Published October 31, 2025

Abstract

The effect of storytelling on physiological responses among children undergoing invasive medical procedures is of interest. Using a one-group pre-test - post-test design, 41 children aged 3-12 years were assessed before and after a 15-20 minute storytelling session. Data showed significant reductions in respiratory rate, pulse rate (108.56 → 96.34 bpm), systolic blood pressure (106.12 98.24 mmHg), diastolic blood pressure (68.37 → 62.45 mmHg) and temperature (37.46 → 37.12 °C), along with improvement in SpO₂ (95.12% → 97.38%). These findings confirm that storytelling is an effective, low-cost and culturally adaptable intervention to reduce procedural distress. Thus, we show the potential of incorporating storytelling into routine pediatric nursing care as a safe adjunct to pharmacological approaches.

Keywords

Storytelling, pediatric patients, physiological responses, respiratory rate, pulse rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation, non-pharmacological intervention

Citation

Ramji et al. Bioinformation 21(10): 3522-3526 (2025)

Edited by

P Kangueane

ISSN

0973-2063

Publisher

Biomedical Informatics

License

This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.