Social representation of the hospital ludic: look of the child

Abstract

Introduction: Play has become an object of study in various sectors of society, as it is viewed as an innate, spontaneous activity that is critical for a child’s physical, social, emotional and cognitive development, which facilitates communication, socialisation and adaptation to environments and people. During hospitalisation, children feel vulnerable as they have to cope with strange carers, invasive and painful procedures. Barriers to their regular activities tend to make the situation worse. Objectives: To describe the child’s view of his/her playfulness in the hospital environment and investigate the social representation of a hospital playroom for children exposed  to the story-drawing technique. Methods: This qualitative exploratory research used storydrawing as a tool for data collection with a sample of 12 children aged 6 to 11 years, while they were hospitalised. Data analysis was supported by a literature review and direct observation, which allowed the researchers to draw relationships between theory, the research hypotheses and the data collected. Findings: The children’s construction and representation of playfulness while in hospital was directly related to the playroom, since most of them reported not conceiving of the possibility to play in bed or elsewhere in the hospital. Soon the playroom was further viewed as a place for socialising and recovering from illness as they approximated this environment to their reality in an attempt to make it a closest-as-possible representation of their homes. It was observed that play changed the children’s preconceived ideas of the hospital, as they began to view the playroom as an environment in which they felt able to play and consequently well. Their story-drawings contextualised symbolically their current hospitalisation situation and became a scaffolding tool for their emotional well-being. Conclusions: The playroom can effectively aid hospitalised children to cope better with the new situation and support the restoration of their health. Play is an emotionally protective factor for children during hospitalisation. Although in Brazil it is now mandatory for health institutions to have a playroom with paediatric care, this breakthrough policy is still challenging for some institutions with respect to being staffed with engaged health professionals and establishing routine procedures.