Effect of Superhero Clothing and Figure on Hospital Adjustment in Children During Hospitalization

Condition(s) studied

Investigational drug(s) / intervention(s)

Experimental: Children and their parents in this group will be informed about the research and their verbal and written consent will be obtained. A questionnaire will be filled out before the application. Then, the child will be allowed to choose one of the superhero clothes he/she wants in his/her room and will be allowed to wear the clothes. The superhero figure will be shown to him/her and he/she will be allowed to play with the clothes and the figure for 2 hours.

Control: The children in this group and their parents will be informed about the research and their verbal and written consent will be obtained. A questionnaire will be filled out before the application. The children will be evaluated in terms of their reactions after their hospitalization, they will not be dressed in any clothing and no superhero figures will be used. Then the questionnaire will be filled out again and scoring will be done. In order to prevent ethical bias before discharge, the child will be dressed in a superhero costume and will be allowed to spend time with the clothing and figure.

Study summary

Healthcare professionals and administrators who serve children are aware of the role of play in children's lives and with this awareness, they design playrooms and areas for children in hospitals. Nurses who consider play as an important atraumatic care approach that supports the child's development, reduces stress and anxiety, and thus contributes to the improvement of hospital compliance have conducted some studies on this subject. Sarman (2022) found in his study that animal-assisted treatment with aquarium fish in the hospital for children aged 8-10 was effective in reducing children's fear and anxiety, strengthening positive emotions, ensuring that the hospital environment was accepted as safe, reducing the feeling of loneliness and facilitating adaptation to the hospital. In another study, play and art therapy was applied to hospitalized children between the ages of 2 and 4, and it was determined that play therapy was more effective in reducing children's anxiety than art therapy and the control group. In their study evaluating the effect of the "hospital friend, Yarencik" initiative on the hospital adaptation of children aged 1-3, Özcan and Güdücü Tüfekci (2022) found that the hospital adaptation of the intervention group after the application was significantly higher than the control group. Although the above studies show that studies using developmentally appropriate and attractive methods to increase the compliance of young children to hospitalization are effective, the number of methods and studies tested is limited. Finding the best method to increase the compliance of young children to hospital and providing evidence that will form the basis for the development and updating of guides or guides is an important requirement.

Eligibility

Primary outcome measure(s)

• Sociodemographic Questionnaire — During the children's first hospitalization, the researcher will fill out Sociodemographic Questionnaire ( Approximately 10 minute).
  This form was prepared by researchers in line with the literature in order to determine the sociodemographic characteristics of the children and to learn their thoughts about the hospital It consists of 14 questions that include the sociodemographic characteristics of the child and the family and information about the hospital.
• Children's Hospital Adaptation Evaluation Scale (CHILD-HÜDO) — It will be filled out by the researcher and parent before and after the procedure (Approximately 10 minute).
  The scale, developed in Turkey to evaluate the hospitalization of mothers' 1-3 year old children, is a 5-point Likert-type scale (1-Continuous, 2- Frequently, 3- Occasionally, 4- Very little, 5- Never). It was prepared for children aged 1-3 who are hospitalized. The Scale for Evaluating Children's Hospital Adaptation consists of 22 items and a single dimension. The scale was developed by Özcan and Güdücü Tüfekci by 2022. The lowest score that can be obtained from the scale is 22, and the highest score is 110. As the score obtained from the scale increases, the children's adaptation to the hospital increases. There is no reverse-scored item in the scale. Cronbach's alpha was determined as 0.818 for the entire scale.

Trial sites (1)