The Effect of Mother's Gentle Human Touch on Preterm Neonate's Pain and Maternal Anxiety During Venipuncture in Turkiye.

The trial was single centre, so results may not apply to other neonatal units. Mothers and researchers were not blinded, and mothers knew their group before anxiety was measured, which can affect reported anxiety. All infants also had mothers present, listened to a lullaby at 45 decibels, and had blood draws done under a radiant heater by the same nurse, so the effect of gentle human touch alone cannot be separated. Infants needing more than one attempt or a procedure lasting more than 2 minutes were excluded, so findings may not apply to harder or repeated venipunctures. Control mothers were excluded if they touched their infants, which may make the control condition less like usual practice. Interrater agreement for pain scores before the procedure was low (Cohen kappa 0.317), so early pain ratings were less reliable. Maternal anxiety scores differed before the procedure, and the authors attributed this to information about gentle human touch, so baseline anxiety may have influenced later anxiety.

The authors declared no conflicts of interest and reported no specific funding for this work.

Do not conclude that gentle human touch alone is proven to reduce neonatal venipuncture pain. The trial was unblinded and single centre, and both groups also had mother presence, a lullaby, and standard blood draws, so the effect cannot be separated from the whole procedure setting.