Premium
Unstructured play for anxiety in pediatric inpatient care
Author(s) -
AlYateem Nabeel,
Rossiter Rachel C.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal for specialists in pediatric nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.499
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1744-6155
pISSN - 1539-0136
DOI - 10.1111/jspn.12166
Subject(s) - anxiety , evening , medicine , referral , morning , state trait anxiety inventory , intervention (counseling) , pediatrics , physical therapy , clinical psychology , psychiatry , family medicine , physics , astronomy
Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of unstructured play activities on the anxiety levels of hospitalized children. Methods A nonequivalent control group pretest posttest design was employed for this study. The sample included children ( N = 165) ages 4–7 years admitted to a large pediatric referral center in the United Arab Emirates. The control group ( n = 84) received usual care, while the experimental group ( n = 81) engaged in age‐appropriate unstructured play activities using disposable games and toys. Parents and siblings, if present, were encouraged to participate. Research assistants conducted the play activities twice a day, with 30‐min morning and evening sessions. Anxiety was measured at baseline and at the end of days 2 and 3 with a translated form of the Short–State‐Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children. Results Anxiety scores in both groups were similar at baseline and decreased significantly over the 3 days. Compared with the control group, anxiety scores in the intervention group were significantly lower on day 2 (12.7 ± 2.3 vs. 10.7 ± 2.5, p = .003) and day 3 (10.6 ± 2.2 vs. 9.47 ± 2.4, p < .001). The greatest decrease occurred in the percentage of children in the experimental group with medium‐level anxiety scores: baseline ( n = 61, 75%), day 2 ( n = 24, 30%), and day 3 ( n = 0, 0%). Conclusions This simple, low‐cost play intervention implemented by nurses resulted in statistically and clinically significant decreases in the anxiety levels of children in an acute inpatient setting.