Occupational Medicine & Health Affairs
Open Access

Abstract

Background: Hospitalization can be a threatening and stressful experience for children. Because of unfamiliar with the environment and medical procedures and unaware of the reasons for hospitalization, it can result in children�s anger, uncertainty, anxiety and feelings of helplessness. Play is an integral part of the hospitalized child�s plan of care. Play offers, the child, an opportunity or creative expression, diversion and effective coping. Aim: The objectives of the study were to assess and compare the level of anxiety before and after the administration of play interventions among hospitalized children in experimental and comparison group and to determine the association of anxiety among hospitalized children with selected variables. The conceptual framework of the study was based on Roy�s adaptation model. Methodology: The quantitative research approach, with quasi-experimental (non-equivalent control group, pretest-posttest design) was adopted for the study. 60 hospitalized children (30 in experimental and 30 in comparison group) were selected by purposive sampling. Sample characteristic performa was used to collect the demographic and clinical data. Structured anxiety rating scale was used to assess anxiety among hospitalized children by structured interview technique. Reliability of the structured anxiety rating scale was tested by using Cronbach�s alpha and found to be 0.85, i.e., reliable. Data collection was done in December 2017. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. Results: The findings of this study revealed that in comparison of post-test mean score of anxiety in experimental and comparison group, the obtained t-value and p-value were 12.23 and 0.001 respectively, hence found to be significant (p<0.05) at 0.05 level. Further significant association was found between anxiety score and selected variables i.e., education of father (0.01), education of mother (0.01), occupation of father (0.03), family monthly income (0.04), place of residence (0.01) and type of family (0.01) and any medical personnel in family (0.04) in comparison group. Conclusion & Significance: It was concluded from the study that, play interventions is effective in reducing anxiety among hospitalized children. References 1.Patel K, Suresh V, Ravinder H N (2014) Effectiveness of play therapy on anxiety among hospitalized children. Journal of Nursing and Health Science; 3(5): 17-23. 2.Nisha K, Umarani J (2013) Effect of play intervention in reduction of anxiety among hospitalized children. Current Research and Review; 5(11): 104-8. 3.Xavier T (2014) Effectiveness of play activities in reducing the level of anxiety among hospitalized children. Journal of Nursing and Health Science; 3(2): 59-62. 4.Potasz C, Varela M J, Carvalho L C, Prado L F, Prado G F (2013) Effect of play activities on hospitalized children's stress: a randomized clinical trial. Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy; 20(1): 71-9. 5.William L I, Cheung H, Lopez V, Lee T L (2007) Effects of preoperative therapeutic play on outcomes of school-age children undergoing day surgery. Research in Nursing & Health; 30(3): 320-32. 6.Natalija Smetanina, Edita Albaviciut, Eslava Babinska, et al. (2015) Prevalence of overweight/obesity in relation to dietary habits and lifestyle among 7-17 years old children and adolescents in Lithuania. BMC Public Health; 15: 1001. 7.Celine Heskey, Rawiwan Sirirat, Phang Chen-Chen, Clarke Abigail, Gina Siapco and Joan Sabate (2014) Association between sleep and dietary habits and exercise among adolescents. The FASEB Journal; 28(1).

Biography

Pooja Saharan is currently an MSc Nursing student. Her research interest is identifying anxiety among hospitalized children and administration of play interventions which help in reducing anxiety among hospitalized children. Her approach is to bring certain non-pharmacological interventions to reduce the anxiety among hospitalized children.