Social and psychological care before and during hospitalization

Social and psychological care may be viewed as a series of technical procedures; or it may be seen as a complex set of services rendered by the hospital to its potential and actual patients. In the latter case, an understanding of the structure, the political and economic, as well as the ideological context of the hospital is necessary. A review of studies on the preparation of children for hospitalization, conducted in the theoretical framework of behavioural medicine, provides a significant set of data. Material available from practising clinical social workers in United States hospitals, provides equally useful reports, albeit of far greater contextual nature than the first. The paper proposes that in post-behaviouristic and post-phenomenological times an integration of frames of reference, designs and methodologies ought to be attempted, notwithstanding serious dissonances, disagreements, and professions-bound interests.