ABSTRACT
The hospitalization of a child can be a very difficult experience for a family. Parents and siblings of a hospitalized child are faced with worry about the child's health, separation anxiety and disruption of family routine. Children's reactions to hospitalization have been of concern to parents and health professionals for many years. Hospitalization of children may also stimulate death fears, enuresis, fecal soiling, and tics, nail biting, nose picking, rocking, thumb sucking and sleep problems ranging from restlessness to nightmares and sleep walking. Several reasons are employed to explain why younger children experience more upset from hospitalization than older children. Young children may interpret hospital procedures as hostile, mutilating acts and hospitalized children have been found to believe that they have been rejected or abandoned by their parents. Child life programs are professionally staffed programs designed to meet the emotional, developmental, recreational and educational needs of pediatric patients.
