Research
Completed Research
What a Hospital Should Be
Among the many features of childhood is children’s sense of powerlessness and lack of control over what happens to them. Perhaps under no other circumstance is this reality more evident than when children are hospitalized. In an effort to explore children’s needs, wants, wishes, desires, and hopes when hospitalized, a paediatric artists-in-residence program spearheaded a month-long project for approximately 40 children and young people ages 4 to 20 years (31 currently hospitalized and 9 outpatients) that asked them to design features of their ideal hospital and create art – drawings, paintings, collages, prints, sculpture, stories, poetry, dance, music – to depict their ideas. The project, funded in part by the LEGO Children’s Fund, culminated in a celebratory event and presentation of the children’s work. Analysis of their creative products, observations, and interviews revealed children’s recognition of the importance of (a) physical/material features, (b) caring relationships, (c) stimulating/peaceful atmosphere, (d) empowerment, and (e) wishes/hope as contributing to what a hospital should be. Focusing on more than the design features and other physical elements of the hospital environment, children perceived their ideal hospital to be a place where their families and friends are welcome; hospital staff members are kind, understanding, and connected; the hospital atmosphere is one that offers the choice of stimulation or calm; there are opportunities for children and young people to be in control, courageous, and empowered; and children are supported in their efforts to keep hope alive. Although the hospital’s physical elements are important and support other crucial psychosocial issues for hospitalized children, children in this study also gave voice to the significant contribution of their parents and the people who work within the walls of the institution. The children seemed to acknowledge their own personal strength and optimism as important elements in what a hospital should be.
Rollins, J. (2009). What a hospital should be. In W. Turgeon (Ed.), Creativity and the child: Interdisciplinary perspectives (pp. 201–211). Oxford, England: Inter-Disciplinary Press. Available at http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/CE-09.pdf
The Influence of 2 Hospitals’ Designs and Policies on Social Interaction and Privacy as Coping Factors for Children With Cancer and Their Families
Children with cancer and their families benefit from both social interaction and privacy in attempting to cope with the stresses of a child’s hospitalization and illness. An analysis of findings from a study of stress and coping for children with cancer evaluated design features affecting social interaction and privacy at a hospital in the United Kingdom and a hospital in the United States and some of the ways in which these features and related hospital policies uphold the philosophy of family-centered care and support coping. Implications of these findings with the current call for single occupancy rooms in both countries are explored.
Rollins, J. (2009). The influence of 2 hospitals’ designs and policies on social interaction and privacy as coping factors for children with cancer and their families. Journal of Pediatric Oncology Nursing, 26(6), 340–353. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19687464?dopt=Abstract
Tell Me About It: Drawing as a Communication Tool for Children with Cancer
As health-related research on children shifts from seeking information about children to seeking information directly from them, researchers recognize the need for developmentally appropriate methods such as drawing to help children communicate their experiences. This international study sought to (a) explore and compare the nature of stressors of everyday life and disease that children with cancer in the United Kingdom and the United States experience, (b) explore and compare the coping measures they use to manage these stressors, and (c) examine the use of drawing to enhance communication. Participants included 22 children ages 7 to 18 years, 13 boys and 9 girls receiving treatment for cancer in the United Kingdom and the United States. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used within a grounded theory approach and included drawing to accompany the traditional grounded theory methods of interview and observation. Findings indicate that children, regardless of their ethnicity and other cultural components, respond to the childhood cancer experience in a similar manner. The use of drawing enhanced communication through direct visual expression and/or through verbal expression via the “campfire effect.”
Rollins, J. (2005). Tell me about it: Drawing as a communication tool for children with cancer. Journal of Pediatric Oncology Nursing, 22(4), 203–221. http://www.judyrollins.com/PDFs/JOPONArticle.pdf
Childhood Cancer: Siblings Draw and Tell
There is a growing awareness among health care professionals that the psychosocial needs of siblings of children with cancer are less adequately met than those of other family members. As part of a larger research study of 17 families of children with cancer, 20 healthy siblings, ages 3-11 years (7 males, 13 females), were tested using the Kinetic Family Drawing-Revised (Spinetta, McLaren, Fox, & Sparta, 1981) in one of two oncology clinics in a Southwestern state. Nine of the subjects participated in a sibling day. Data from the drawings and discussions with siblings confirm previous sibling research findings and reflect current social changes.
Rollins, J. (1990). Childhood cancer: Siblings draw and tell. Pediatric Nursing, 16(1), 21–27. http://www.judyrollins.com/PDFs/CancerArticle.pdf