Fear of hospitalization and coping strategies in hospitalized children: A systematic review

Background: Illness and hospitalization of children have a profound psychological effecton children. On the other hand, being hospitalized in a boring hospital environment causesisolation and fear of hospitalized children. Fear and anxiety of hospitalized children areeffective in communicating with the nurse, lack of cooperation, the formation of longtermfear of the nurse and many other things. The aim of this study was to determine thelevel of fear and anxiety of hospitalized children and strategies to deal with it.Material and Methods: In this article, a systematic review, by searching the reputabledatabases of Scopus, PubMed, SID, Wiley, Magiran Iranmedex using the keywords fear,anxiety, child, hospitalization, play therapy without restrictions in the type of study inPersian and English articles were identified in the last 10 years. Then, by reviewing thefull text of the articles, those that were relevant to the subject and purpose of the studywere used.Results: The highest fear of hospitalized children is fear of pain and stress in the hospitalenvironment, pain from injections and treatment steps and medical staff. Finding newfriends and peers, play therapy, using toys and dolls appropriate for the age group ofchildren, getting to know and explaining about the treatment process and changing thestaff uniform to a colorful and happy one from this fear and anxiety to some extent inreducing this fear and anxiety.Conclusions: Since the main cause of children's fear is the hospital environment andunfamiliar treatment measures, it is recommended to prepare children beforehospitalization and at the beginning. Also, methods such as providing playrooms withequipment suitable for different ages and wearing colored clothes by the staff of children'swards as non-pharmacological and effective methods to reduce anxiety and fear inchildren.

Keywords:

fear , anxiety , child , hospitalization , play therapy