The effect of a program to promote play to reduce children's post-surgical pain: with plush toys, it hurts less.

Various nonpharmacological strategies to relieve hospitalized children's pain propose play as a central element. Play is considered an essential resource to improve the negative psychosocial effects of the disease and the hospitalization itself. However, the empirical research of play in health settings has not received much attention. The goal of this study was to determine the effect of a program to promote play in the hospital on postsurgical pain in pediatric patients. The research hypothesis was that children will manifest less pain if they are distracted through play during the postsurgical period. We carried out a randomized parallel trial with two groups, an experimental group and a control group. The control group did not receive any specific treatment, only the standard attention contemplated in the hospital. The parents of the children from the experimental group received instructions to play with their children in the postsurgical period and specific play material with which to play. The results obtained support the research hypothesis. On average, the children from the experimental group scored lower on a pain scale than the children from the control group. This occurred in the three postsurgical measurements of pain. It is concluded that the program to promote play can decrease children's perception of pain.

The Best and the Worst Things About the Hospital for Children with Cancer: A Qualitative, Interview-Based Study in a Spanish Hospital.

The comprehensive psychosocial assessment of children with cancer requires listening to them and understanding their point of view. The objective of this work was to know what the participating children with cancer thought about the hospital, which they considered to be the best and worst aspects of their experience. We conducted a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with 27 children with cancer. The interviewer asked the participating children what they considered to be the best thing about the hospital and what they considered to be the worst. These conversations with them were recorded and transcribed, and a thematic analysis of these transcripts was conducted. Among the aspects of the hospital that the children rated most highly was the treatment they received from the health care staff. Among what the children considered the worst aspect of their experience was pain, particularly pain caused by medical procedures such as injections. The obtained results lead us to conclude that children have a complex view of the hospital and are capable of a detailed analysis that must be taken into account.

[Humanization through the art of environment of children's emergency in a hospital]. / Mejorar los espacios de salud: humanización a través del arte.

This article aims to present and discuss a case-study of human betterment through the arts applied to a children's hospital. The experience related to the betterment of these environments took place in the Children's Emergency Service of the University Hospital in Salamanca. After describing the context of the case-study some attention will be devoted to the phases of the process, emphasizing those aspects linked to children's care culture and their families as well as the symbolic dimension of the space and the participation of different professionals in the experience. The case-study is assessed from different standpoints but special importance is given to parents' opinions. 51 parents of children in the emergency unit were interweaved during a month. Parents valued positively the service and stated that artists' intervention had been beneficial for the children's emotional state. The article concludes with a debate about the meaning of the hospital environment and the quality associated with its physical premises.

Visual Arts in Children's Hospitals: Scoping Review.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this work was to review scientific publications related to the use of visual arts in pediatric hospitals. BACKGROUND: Visual arts, particularly painting, have historically played an important role in the design and atmosphere of healthcare spaces, especially hospitals. METHODS: From 2000 to 2019, 79 publications located in relevant databases and manual searches were identified and analyzed. RESULTS: Sixty of these publications include empirical studies and 19 theoretical models, comments, or reflections on the use of art in children's hospitals. Their analysis allows us to differentiate four groups of works: (a) "environmental" includes works whose purpose is to know how visual artistic interventions in the hospital can affect the people who see them, mainly pediatric patients, families, and health workers; (b) "participatory" includes studies aimed at knowing the effect of developing visual arts activities in the hospital; (c) "exploratory" includes works whose purpose was to know more about the children's perspective using their artistic expressions; and (d) "diagnostic" includes those that use children's drawings as a tool to diagnose diverse processes related to the pediatric patients' experience. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, the works we analyzed in our study support the use of visual arts in hospitals as a resource to enhance the well-being of children and families and their experience in the hospital. We indicate two particularly relevant aspects in this sense: the importance of the visual arts in improving the symbolic quality of hospitalization settings and the communication processes that occur in these environments.

Contributions of an artistic educational program for older people with early dementia: an exploratory qualitative study.

OBJECTIVE: To describe a contemporary artistic educational program based on photographic cyanotype techniques and to present the results of the program carried out with older people with early dementia. We determined whether these people could participate in the program, their viewpoint about it, and what this program could contribute to their experience. METHOD: Twenty-one people diagnosed with mild or moderate dementia participated in a series of artistic education workshops. While conducting the workshops, participant observation was carried out, and the participants' engagement was assessed. Upon completing the series, five focus groups were held with the participants with dementia, and another focus group with their professional caretakers. RESULTS: We observed the participants' high level of commitment to the activity and their interest in learning new things. We also observed the participants' satisfaction during the creative process and with their results. The artistic activities not only reinforced the feelings of capacity of the participants with early dementia but also transmitted a positive image of them. CONCLUSIONS: Dementia was not an obstacle to participation in the program, which was an opportunity for creativity, learning, enjoyment, and communication for people with dementia. In the authors' opinion, facilitating access to art and artistic education to people with early dementia can contribute to enforcing their rights and to improving the care system.

Perspectives of youths and adults improve the care of hospitalized adolescents in Spain.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine and compare the preferences and priorities of youths and adults about the best ways to improve hospitals to have an impact on the quality of life of hospitalized adolescents. METHOD: Participants in this study were 364 adolescents between 14 and 17 years of age (96 hospitalized) and 148 adults (96 parents of patients and 52 health professionals). All the participants completed a questionnaire about their preferences and priorities with regard to hospitalization. RESULTS: A high degree of agreement among the youths and the adults was observed, especially regarding the importance assigned to agreeableness of clinical staff to improveadolescents' experience of hospitalization. Some discrepancies also were observed. The youths granted more importance to issues related to filling in time, specifically to the leisure technology available for patients. The adults assigned more importance to the organization of the hospital stay, in particular, for adolescents to be admitted with patients of the same age and for them to receive academic support in the hospital. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents express a coherent perspective about the aspects that may help them feel better in the hospital that in some ways is different from the perspective of the adults who care for them.