Associations between Learning and Behavioral Difficulties in Second-Grade Children.

Learning and behavioral difficulties often emerge during the first years of primary school and are one of the most important issues of concern for families and schools. The study was aimed at investigating the co-occurrence of difficulties between academic learning and emotional-behavioral control in typically developing school children and the moderating role of sex. A sample of 640 second-grade school children participated in the study.

A Comparison of Nonpharmacologic Interventions on the Emotional State of Children in the Emergency Department.

Objectives: The majority of children and adolescents presenting to the emergency department are in pain and require painful procedures. This randomized study was to investigate the efficacy of 3 different nonpharmacologic interventions (clowns, dogs, and musicians) to reduce pain and analyze the perception of positive and negative affects after the presence of these activities in a short-stay observation unit (SSOU).

Methods: Participants were composed of 105 children (54 boys and 51 girls; aged 3-16 years) assigned randomly to an experimental group (N = 57) that was composed of patients who were present in the SSOU.

Can presence of a dog reduce pain and distress in children during venipuncture?

The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of animal-assisted intervention as distraction for reducing children's pain and distress before, during, and after standard blood collection procedure. Fifty children (ages 4-11 years) undergoing venipuncture were randomly assigned to the experimental group (EG; n = 25) or to the control group (CG; n = 25). The blood collection procedure was carried on the children in the EG arm in the presence of a dog, whereas no dog was present when venipuncture was conducted on children in CG.