Date of Graduation
2003
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Type
MS
Committee Chair
Wanda Franz
Abstract
This study was aimed at identifying the play behaviors of hospitalized preschool aged children. Hospitals that had child life programs were the focus. Two hundred informational surveys and playroom observation forms were mailed throughout the United States. Surveys asked about the hours of operation of the child life program, hours of operation of the institution’s playroom, whether adults had to accompany children to the playroom, and whether a member of the child life staff was always present in the playroom. Number of child life staff at the institution and child life staff to patient ratio was also recorded. Participants were also asked to observe their playroom during three time periods. Each time they recorded (for each child in the desired age group): the child’s gender, approximate age, what type of play the child was involved in (solitary, parallel or group), and whether child life staff, volunteers or other adults were present during the observation. Forty-three institutions returned useable data on 284 subjects. Frequencies, crosstabulations, and Chi-square tests were performed on each of the study’s hypotheses. It was found that group play occurred most often (n=115) among the observed children. It was also found that there was a significant difference between the age of the child and the type of play there were engaged in X2=(4, N=269)=26.15.
Recommended Citation
Craddock, Tracey M., "The play behaviors of hospitalized children." (2003). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD). 10758.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/10758