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Documenting the value of supervised play in a pediatric ambulatory care clinic
Insights
Supervised play in pediatric clinics significantly increased positive patient responses and decreased negative behaviors. Environmental changes alone did not cause these improvements, highlighting the impact of structured play programs.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric healthcare
- Child psychology
- Clinical environment design
Background:
- Pediatric ambulatory clinics often have waiting areas that lack structured activities.
- Unsupervised play can lead to negative behaviors in children within clinical settings.
- The impact of supervised play on patient responses in clinics is not well-established.
Purpose of the Study:
- To test if supervised play increases positive responses and decreases negative responses in pediatric outpatients.
- To determine if environmental alterations alone could account for changes in child behavior.
- To describe a new outpatient program incorporating supervised play and its benefits.
Main Methods:
- A controlled study comparing unsupervised play (control week) with supervised play (experimental week) in a pediatric clinic waiting area.
- Behavioral observations of children during both study phases.
- A second study to isolate the effect of environmental changes versus supervised play.
Main Results:
- Supervised play significantly increased positive responses (e.g., engagement, calm behavior).
- Supervised play significantly decreased negative responses (e.g., distress, disruptive actions).
- Environmental changes alone did not produce the observed behavioral improvements.
Conclusions:
- Supervised play is an effective intervention to improve patient experience in pediatric ambulatory settings.
- Structured play programs can positively influence child behavior in clinical environments.
- The described outpatient program offers a model for enhancing pediatric care through facilitated play.
Abstract:
This study tested the hypothesis that supervision of play in a pediatric ambulatory clinic would increase positive resonses and decrease negative responses in outpatients. During the control week, children played unsupervised in the unaltered clinic waiting area; selected behaviors were recorded then and during the experimental week, in which changes introduced in the clinical environment facilitated supervised play. Significant increases in positive responses and significant decreases in negative responses were noted during the experimental week (X2=474.4; p. <. 001.). A second study demonstrated that significant changes were not caused by environment alteration alone. The resultant outpatient program and its benefits are described.