1. Frequency & Percentage by Themes
Can Kids be Kids Here? The Evaluation of Hospital Playrooms by Child Life Specialists
Allison Butler, Ph.D., Nanci Weinberger, Ph.D., Phyllis Schumacher, Ph.D., Beth McGee, M.S., & Ryan Brown
2015 Meeting of the Association for Psychological Science (APS), New York City
Results
Abstract
Participant Demographics
90 Participants
22-62 years (M=35.78, SD= 10.87)
88 female; 2 male; 87% White
Education
45.6% Bachelor’s degree
53.3% Masters degree
Child Life Experience
9.85 average years working in the field
80% currently work in hospital playroom
67.8% have given design input on child life playrooms
●Participants’ rank ordering of “Best” Playroom are consistent with McGee’s Biophilic Design Matrix ratings (0-52)
Rank Order by Participants: Simon Henderson Baker Parkman Wheeler
Percentage of Participants % % % % %
Biophilic Design Matrix Score
●Repeated Measures ANOVAs were run for the rating items. For all 14 cases the null
hypothesis of equal means was rejected with p < Bonferonni Post-hoc analyses for pairwise differences found that with 5% level of significance Simon rated higher than all other playrooms in 10 of the 14 ratings.
●Playroom rating items were highest for:
Positive Emotional Climate. These include: “coping with hospitalization,” experiencing positive emotions”, “a kid can be a kid.” Simon’s means were 6.17 or higher out of 7.
Opportunities for Meaningful Play. Simon’s ratings for “ pretend play” (M=6.26) was significantly higher than all other rooms and for “sensory play’ (M=5.7) higher than 3 others.
● Open Ended Responses revealed that the most valued features included: biophilic elements, appealing color and decor, open space, cleanliness/safety, & play options.
Our study employed a photograph methodology to survey 90 child life specialists about hospital playrooms. Playrooms rated most favorably have biophilic features, encourage children’s engagement in different types of play, and support the values of the child life profession.
Background
Child life services improve outcomes in pediatric care (AAP, 2014).
These include physiological (less pain, less need for sedation) and psychological (less fear, anxiety) benefits.
Child life professionals “embrace the value of play as a healing modality” and note its essential role in facilitating “healing, coping, mastery, self-expression, creativity, achievement, and learning” (CLC Values Statement, 2012).
Hospital playrooms should be optimized to support the goals and values of child life, but there is little research providing guidelines for how to create exemplary playrooms.
One dimension on which child life playrooms vary is the presence of biophilic design attributes (McGee, 2012).
Presence of plants and animals, simulation of forms found in nature, spatial/lighting features that evoke a feeling of a natural environment (Kellert, 2008)
Children’s health improves when they play in biophilic environments (Kellert, 2008; Louv, 2008).
Biophilic Design Matrix (BDM) captures the variety and extent of biophilia present in healthcare contexts (McGee, 2012).
Photograph-based methodologies have emerged in environmental design research (Blumberg & Devlin, 2006).
The Child Life Playrooms
Our study employs a photograph methodology to examine child life specialists’ perceptions of how biophilic attributes, among other design aspects, can contribute to optimal hospital playrooms for children. Images and biophilic ratings from McGee’s (2012) study.
Simon, BDM: 39
Table 1. Open Response Frequencies and Frequency Percentages for Best Liked Playroom Features
Simon
Henderson
Baker
Parkman
Wheeler
Frequency & Percentage by Themes
Nature elements 59
28% 60
29% 41
23% 14 8% 0%
174
20%
Color & Décor 37
17% 40 20
11% 44
25% 25
22%
166
19%
Open space 38
18% 43
21% 22
12% 10 6% 1
.8%
114
13%
Play options 34
16% 23 15 9% 30
26%
116
Storage & organization 11 5% 8 4% 5 3% 51 97
Zones 7 18 19
10% 13 94
Clean 7% 2% 58
Media 3 1%
.4% 16 2 27
Flooring 4 17
Access
Safe
.5%
Frequency & Percentage by Playroom
214
204
182
173
887
101%
Henderson, BDM: 37
Baker, BDM: 24
hi all
Wheeler, BDM: 19
Parkman, BDM: 18
Procedure
Participants completed an electronic survey with 5 parts:
Demographics
Photographic Preview of 5 Playrooms (6 Photos Each)
Range of biophilic design matrix scores
14 Playroom Rating Items for Each Playroom
Rate on a 7-pt. Likert scale (1=SD → 7=SA)
E.g., cleanliness, emotional climate, play options
Open Response Item: “What do you like best about this playroom?”
Rank Ordering of the Playrooms
Conclusions
Research Questions
Child life specialists are able to make meaningful distinctions between the playrooms based on a photograph methodology
Critical to expose child life specialists to a variety of spaces and consider their input
Biophilia emerged as the dominant best liked feature (20% of comments)
Biophilia was only coded as nature elements, but some research also considers color and decor and open space as biophilia
Highest rated playroom (Simon) also had the highest BDM rating
Media was not highly valued, may depend on its versatility
Child life specialists favor playrooms that reflect a positive emotional climate and provide opportunities for meaningful play
Are child life specialists able to use a photograph methodology to make fine distinctions among hospital playrooms?
When presented with photographs of hospital playrooms, which types of playrooms do child life specialists view most favorably? 1