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Assessing child satisfaction and expectations for developing a child-friendly environment at the pediatric department
Amudha Pattabi1, Ananth Nazarene2, Sejo Varghese2
1Nursing and Midwifery Education Department, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar.
Insights
Children are not fully satisfied with hospital environments, desiring more child-friendly spaces. Designing healthcare settings with children's needs in mind is crucial for improving their hospital experience and outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Healthcare Design
- Patient-Centered Care
- Child Psychology in Healthcare Settings
Background:
- Patient-centered care prioritizes individual patient needs, preferences, and values, which is especially critical for pediatric patients.
- Children often experience hospital environments designed for adults, which may not adequately address their unique needs and communication styles.
- There is a growing recognition of the importance of creating hospital environments that are responsive to children's concerns and developmental stages.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate children's satisfaction with the physical aspects of their hospital environment.
- To gather insights for developing hospital environments tailored to children's needs and preferences.
- To inform evidence-based healthcare design by incorporating children's perspectives.
Main Methods:
- A mixed-methods study involving 398 children aged 6-14 years in Qatar.
- Utilized surveys with nine items on satisfaction with the current environment and nine on expectations for a child-friendly hospital.
- Employed Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests, alongside thematic analysis, to evaluate satisfaction and expectations.
Main Results:
- Children's satisfaction with hospital aspects (e.g., appearance, lounges, bedrooms, toys) ranged from 42.9% to 59%.
- A significant portion of participants (40.3%) were aged 6-8 years, and 60.3% had prior hospital visit experience.
- Children desired spacious, colorful, attractive environments with cartoon characters and toys throughout the hospital.
Conclusions:
- Findings highlight the necessity of incorporating children's perspectives into healthcare design.
- Children's satisfaction with current hospital environments is generally average to below average.
- Implementing a child-friendly hospital environment, integrating children's rights, can significantly enhance healthcare outcomes.
Background:
"Patient-centered" care positions the patient at the core and emphasizes fulfilling their unique needs, preferences, and values. This approach is particularly significant in the context of children. Although widely recognized as necessary, this approach is not universally implemented. The children find themselves in hospital wards where they are required to follow protocols and systems designed primarily for adults. In the appropriate atmosphere, children often express themselves more effectively through words, body language, and play, leading to a richer understanding of their needs. There is growing recognition of the importance of addressing children's concerns regarding hospital environments.
Aim:
This study investigates children's satisfaction with the physical aspect of the hospital environment. Insights from this exploration could provide valuable input for creating hospital environments centered around children's needs and preferences.
Methods:
This mixed-methods study involves children aged 6-14 years with parental consent from a premiere healthcare provider in the state of Qatar. The survey used nine items to gauge satisfaction with the existing hospital environment as a "child-friendly hospital" and another nine items to explore their expectations for such environments. The Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests as well as thematic analyses were employed to assess the statistical significance of differences in satisfaction levels and children's expectations of the hospital's physical environment.
Results:
A total of 398 children participated in the study. Of them, 40.3% were aged 6-8 years; 60.3% had experienced two to five hospital visits; 55.8% of children participated during their outpatient service visit; and 31.7% were Asian. Children's satisfaction levels with various aspects of the hospital environment-including its physical appearance, signage, lounge, consultant rooms, corridors, bedrooms, TV content, toys, and staff uniforms-were in the range of 42.9%-59%. The children expressed a desire for a hospital environment that is spacious, colorful, attractive, and filled with cartoon characters and toys in the children's hospital from the front lounge to the inpatient units.
Conclusion:
The findings underline the importance of considering the perspectives of children in evidence-based healthcare design. The study reveals that children's satisfaction with the hospital environment is generally average or below average. Ultimately, a "child-friendly hospital environment" integrates children's rights into healthcare to significantly improve outcomes.
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