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in the United Kingdom.
6
However, it has been
suggested that hypnosis can be used as an adjunct
to pharmacological interventions for
pain control and distress management
15,33
and in preparation for procedures such as general
anesthetic.
9
Health care practitioners,
such as nurses, are well placed to provide such
supportive interventions. Wolfe et al.
43
conducted
a survey on 42 nurses to elicit their
perspectives of stress-reduction techniques
for procedure-related pediatric cancer pain.
The results suggested that nurses considered
themselves knowledgeable and competent in
several stress-reduction techniques that can
be used during painful procedures (such as
deep breathing and distraction). However,
they considered themselves less knowledgeable
and competent with techniques such as play
therapy and hypnosis, which they viewed
as highly effective in reducing children’s
distress.
43
Research Recommendations
Hypnotic interventions use different techniques
(induction, relaxation, deepening, cognitive-
behavioral distraction, and suggestions).
Combined with attention received from the
therapist, the hypnotic procedure thus includes
both specific and nonspecific effects.
To date, meta-analytic research has demonstrated