The Significance of Therapeutic Plays in Pediatric Nursing Şerife TUTAR GÜVEN, Ayla KAYA, Ayşegül İŞLER DALGIÇ Akdeniz University, Faculty of Nursing Pediatric Nursing Department, Antalya / TURKEY (aisler@akdeniz.edu.tr)

Hospitalization in childhood is an unpleasant experience.

Hospitalization for children; Unfamiliar environment and medical applications Anger Uncertainty Anxiety Despair

It is used for therapy, healing and cure. Therapeutic It is used for therapy, healing and cure. Therapeutic Play Therapeutic play is a relaxing play method that develops to support the individual.

Therapeutic plays are the core of psychosocial and cognitive development activities that improve child’s emotional and physical well-being.

In order to improve the nursing quality, child health nurses should recognize all aspects of the game and use relevant applications. Nurse show invasive applications on sick child's toy.

By observing the playing process of children who don't react during communication, it is possible to define the needs, problems, missing, fears, requests and personality characteristics of them. Puppet terapy is communication key with sick child.

The words are symbolically transferred to equipments, objects, sounds, place and time even if there is not verbal and direct communication. Drawing and playing clapper activities can help the child express himself.

Children may be allowed to play with medical masks, nursing uniforms, syringes, and stethoscopes. Nurses can demonstrate how to insert venous cathethers on a teddy bear or baby doll.

This review aims to highlight the significance and efficiency of therapeutic plays in nursing care.

As a result of the research, it was determined that the postoperative pain was significantly lower in the experimental group and anxiety levels were lower (He et al., 2015).

The therapeutic effect of pre-operative therapy has significantly reduced the anxiety level of children and parents (He et al., 2015).

The result of the therapeutic play method was significantly reduced before, during and after the painful procedure (Lemos et al., 2016).

Research found that children reduced hospitalization stress (Medeiros et al. 2017).

It has been suggested that therapeutic plays reduce stress and traumas caused by the disease and hospitalization processes, help children to cope with stress before, after, and during the medical intervention, and enable the evaluation of child’s emotional reactions against medical interventions.

As a conclusion; It is recommended to use therapeutic plays in coping with painful and agitative interventions, preparing children for surgical or invasive interventions, and routing pediatric nursing practices based on atraumatic care philosophy.

References Altay, N. C. (2008). Çocuklarda ameliyat öncesi hazırlık. Hacettepe Üniversitesi Hemşirelik Fakültesi Dergisi, 15(2), 068-076. He, H. G., Zhu, L., Chan, S. W. C., Liam, J. L. W., Li, H. C. W., Ko, S. S., & Wang, W. (2015). Therapeutic play intervention on children's perioperative anxiety, negative emotional manifestation and postoperative pain: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of advanced nursing, 71(5), 1032-1043. He, H. G., Zhu, L., Chan, S. W. C., Klainin-Yobas, P., & Wang, W. (2015). The effectiveness of therapeutic play intervention in reducing perioperative anxiety, negative behaviors, and postoperative pain in children undergoing elective surgery: A systematic review. Pain Management Nursing, 16(3), 425-439. Kıran, B., Çalık, C., & Esenay, F. I. (2013). Terapotik oyun: Hasta çocuk ile iletişimin anahtarı. Ankara Sağlık Bilimleri Dergisi ,2(1-2-3), 1-10. Lemos, I. C. S., da Silva, L. G., de Araújo Delmondes, G., Brasil, A. X., Santos, P. L. F., Gomes, E., & Kerntopf, M. R. (2016). Therapeutic play use in children under the venipucture: A strategy for pain reduction. American Journal of Nursing Research, 4(1), 1-5. Medeiros, R. D. M., Austregésilo, S. C., Ithamar, L., & de Lima, L. S. (2017). Therapeutic play to prepare children for invasive procedures: a systematic review. Jornal de Pediatria (Versão em Português), 93(1), 6-16. İnal, S., & Akgün, M. (2003). Hastanede yatan çocukta terapötik iletişim. Journal of Anatolia Nursing and Health Sciences, 6(2), 67-76.

Thank you… Antalya/TURKEY