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Opportunities for play in paediatric healthcare environments: a scoping review
Clarissa Yu1, Sophie Weaver1, Meaghan Walker1
1Bloorview Research Institute, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Insights
Paediatric play spaces offer crucial social and emotional benefits for children in healthcare. However, research lacks specific design guidance to ensure these vital play environments are inclusive and enhance care for all children.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Healthcare Design
- Child Development
- Healthcare Environment Studies
Background:
- Play spaces are integral to pediatric healthcare, offering children social, emotional, and developmental benefits.
- These environments help mitigate stress, provide normalcy, and foster social engagement for children and families during healthcare experiences.
- Optimizing play space design is crucial for enhancing child inclusion and the quality of care in pediatric settings.
Purpose of the Study:
- To conduct a scoping review exploring the current understanding of paediatric play space design.
- To identify design features that enhance play opportunities and ensure inclusivity for all children and families.
- To highlight gaps in the literature regarding play space design in pediatric healthcare.
Main Methods:
- A comprehensive scoping review was conducted using search terms related to children, healthcare, and play spaces.
- Six interdisciplinary databases were searched over a 30-year period, yielding 2,533 records.
- Eighteen studies were included for final review.
Main Results:
- While the social and emotional benefits of play spaces are well-documented, specific design features for optimal play and inclusivity are not well understood.
- Existing literature primarily focuses on designated play or recreational rooms, neglecting broader integration of play opportunities.
- There is a need to consider diverse users, including children of varying ages and abilities, for more accessible and inclusive designs.
Conclusions:
- Further research is needed on specific design elements to maximize play opportunities and ensure benefits for all children and families.
- Scholarly attention should extend beyond dedicated rooms to integrate play into the overall design of pediatric healthcare environments.
- Future studies must prioritize the diversity of users to create truly accessible and inclusive pediatric play spaces, enhancing overall quality of care.
Abstract:
Play spaces are important components of paediatric healthcare environments. They provide children with critical opportunities to experience the social, emotional, and developmental benefits of play while in healthcare settings for appointments or hospitalizations. These spaces can help to mitigate stress, provide a sense of normalcy in unfamiliar environments, and facilitate social engagement for children and their families. Given the benefits of play spaces in paediatric healthcare settings, it is important to understand how these spaces can be designed to enhance children's inclusion and quality of care. The aim of this scoping review was to explore the current understanding of paediatric play space design. Using search terms related to children, health care, and play space, six interdisciplinary databases were searched over a 30-year period. The search found 2,533 records from which eighteen were included for review. Findings suggest that although it is well-documented that play spaces offer valuable social and emotional benefits, little is known about the specific design features that can and should be incorporated to enhance play opportunities and ensure that they benefit all children and families. Further, the literature mostly considers play spaces in the context of designated play or recreational rooms. Scholars are encouraged to consider how play opportunities can be incorporated into the designs of paediatric healthcare environments beyond the boundaries of these rooms. Future studies should also consider the diversity of play space users, including children of varying ages and abilities, to create more accessible and inclusive paediatric play spaces for children and their families. Advancing knowledge on play space design can help to optimize the quality of these important spaces and to ensure their designs meaningfully enhance children's play experiences and quality of care.
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