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Children in hospital: games to take the strangeness away
Health and Social Service Journal
|January 16, 1981
Insights
Many children experience distress, including fear and homesickness, during hospital stays despite excellent care. This study explores strategies to better prepare young patients for hospitalization, drawing on personal experiences.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric healthcare
- Child psychology
- Hospital patient experience
Background:
- Many children experience significant emotional distress during hospitalization, including fear, loneliness, and homesickness.
- This distress occurs despite the provision of skilled and dedicated care by hospital staff.
Purpose of the Study:
- To corroborate the statement regarding children's unhappiness in hospitals.
- To describe developments aimed at improving preparation for pediatric hospital stays.
Main Methods:
- Qualitative analysis of personal experiences.
- Review of existing and proposed hospital preparation strategies for children.
Main Results:
- Personal experiences validate the widespread emotional challenges faced by children in hospitals.
- Several developmental strategies are identified to better prepare young children for hospitalization.
Conclusions:
- There is a critical need to address the emotional well-being of hospitalized children.
- Proactive preparation strategies can mitigate negative psychological impacts of hospital stays on pediatric patients.
Abstract:
'Despite skilled and dedicated care by hospital staff, many children are bitterly unhappy in hospital, frightened, lonely and homesick.' Pauline Drummond draws on personal experience to corroborate this statement by NAWCH, and describes some developments designed to prepare young children better for the possibility of a stay in hospital.