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The effect of educational interventions with siblings of hospitalized children
1Child Life Program, The Bristol-Myers Squibb Children's Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08903-2601, USA. barbara.gursky@rwjuh.edu
Insights
Educational interventions significantly reduced anxiety in siblings of hospitalized children. Providing age-appropriate information helps children cope with the stress of a sibling's hospital stay.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric healthcare
- Child psychology
- Family support systems
Background:
- Siblings of chronically ill children often experience emotional and behavioral changes.
- Pediatric hospitalization's impact on non-hospitalized siblings is understudied.
- Age-appropriate information can mitigate hospitalization-related stress and anxiety in children.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the impact of educational interventions on anxiety levels in siblings of hospitalized children.
- To compare anxiety levels between siblings who received interventions and those who did not.
- To assess the effectiveness of a standardized educational intervention protocol.
Main Methods:
- A pretest-posttest experimental design was employed with 50 participants (ages 6-17).
- Participants were matched by age, sex, and race into experimental (n=25) and control (n=25) groups.
- Child life specialists delivered interventions based on cognitive development, focusing on hospitalization, illness, and treatment.
Main Results:
- Siblings receiving educational interventions demonstrated significantly lower anxiety levels post-intervention.
- The control group, which did not receive interventions, showed no comparable reduction in anxiety.
- The study confirmed the efficacy of the educational intervention protocol in reducing sibling anxiety.
Conclusions:
- Educational interventions positively impact the emotional well-being of siblings during a child's hospitalization.
- These findings highlight the importance of supporting the needs of non-hospitalized siblings.
- Implementing such interventions can enhance overall family care within pediatric healthcare settings.
Objective:
Research has demonstrated that siblings of chronically ill children can experience significant emotional and behavior changes; however, few studies have looked at the specific impact of pediatric hospitalization on the nonhospitalized child. Studies also indicate that children who receive age-appropriate information are better equipped to handle the stress and anxiety often associated with hospitalization.This study explored whether siblings of hospitalized children who received educational interventions had lower anxiety levels compared to siblings who did not receive interventions.
Methods:
A pretest-posttest experimental design was used with 50 subjects, ages 6-17 years, recruited from a children's hospital within a university medical center. Subjects were matched according to age, sex, and race, with 25 siblings each in the experimental and control groups. Siblings assigned to the experimental group received interventions from a standardized educational intervention protocol developed by the researcher. Interventions focused on teaching the sibling about hospitalization, illness or injury, and treatment for the patient, based on cognitive stages of development. All interventions were conducted by child life specialists on staff at the hospital with extensive training and experience in preparation and procedural teaching.
Results:
Results shows that siblings who received educational interventions had significantly lower anxiety levels after interventions, compared to siblings who did not receive interventions.
Conclusion:
These findings have significant impact on children's health care and supporting family needs when a child is hospitalized.
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