PURPOSE This study was done to analyze children's play during hospitalization. METHOD Data were collected from 36 play situations of hospitalized children, ages 2 to 6, hospitalized at 4 general hospitals, one in each city, Seoul, Suwon, Daejeon and Daegu. All observations were made in pediatric units during free-play periods. Each child was observed for 5 minutes at each observation and observed three times at each play session. RESULTS: Of the children, 83.3% played on the bed. Play partners were mainly mothers. While 75.0% of children actively took part in play activity and 70.0% played with joy, 63.9% of play partners were more passive in the play. The most frequent play material was a small toy.
The level of play was early stage of social and cognitive play, and dramatic play was observed in a few children over the age of 3 years. The play activities were conversional play, reflections of therapeutic procedures, imagination, and exploratory play. In the conversional play, children converted hospital equipments into play materials. CONCLUSION It is recommended that health care team members should pay attention and actively participate in play of hospitalized children in order to help them have some control over the stress of the situation.
PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to identify the self-image of adolescents with cancer. METHOD This study was a descriptive study. The participants in the study were 75 adolescents recruited from four medical centers in Seoul and all were receiving cancer therapy.
Korean Offer Self-Image Questionnaire was used and data were analyzed using the SPSS program. RESULT & CONCLUSIONS: The self-image of adolescents with cancer exists within the average range, but all groups of adolescents with cancer had a more positive self-image than Korean reference groups. The reason why adolescents with cancer showed a relatively positive self-image despite their painful experiences, is because they developed new value systems and view point through their experiences and learning to cope with their situation. This research revealed that relapse affects the self-image of adolescents and therefore it is important to note that adolescents with relapses need more intensive interventions to maintain their positive self-image. In order to help with their coping process, further research on the factors that affect self-image in adolescents with cancer is also needed.