''The Effect of Skin-to-Skin Contact and Gentle Touch Method Applied During Blood Collection on Early Detection of Pain and Physiological Parameters''

37. babies under the gestational week are considered preterm babies, and babies between 32-37 gestational weeks are considered late preterm babies (WHO, 2023). Dec. While the preterm birth rate in the world is 10%, this rate is 13% in Turkey. The life rate of preterm babies has increased in recent years and they are subjected to many painful interventions for diagnosis, treatment and preventive purposes. At the time of birth, they experience painful interventions such as vitamin K, hepatitis B vaccine administration, heel blood collection. Painful interventions cause an increase in cortisol levels, resulting in impaired blood sugar in infants, impaired brain development, impaired growth and development (Akyildiz et al., 2023). In the short term, they may give signs of a decrease in oxygen saturation, an increase in heart rate, metabolic acidosis( Akcan et al., 2017). Procedural pain management is also important for the neurological development of preterm infants (Perg et al., 2018). For these reasons, the pain of the newborn due to interventional procedures should be managed well.