1. University of Akron – Akron, OH For further information
Haitian and American Nursing Students’ Knowledge of Child Life Concepts
Colleen Rosen
University of Akron – Akron, OH
INTRODUCTION
In 2000, the American Academy of Pediatrics published an article about the services of child life. It stated that child life provides play opportunities, explains experiences in the hospital on an age and developmentally appropriate level, and facilitates family centered care (Committee). According to Sutter and Reid, how we approach children in stressful medical situations with their own health or their parent’s health is a service child life can provide (Sutter & Reid, 2012). Child life is a growing field. Moreover, many countries do not have this profession in their medical programs. Children’s Health Care published an article about child life services and how medical professionals understand the role of child life (Cole, Diener, Wright, and Gaynard, 2001). While 49% of nurses in the article’s study considered preparation and orientation as a responsibility of a child life specialist, 52% of nurses considered amusing and entertaining patients was a primary responsibility. This indicates that nurses may not know the primary responsibilities of a child life specialist. Child life is every growing. As this happens, awareness of what the profession does can increase as well. In the future, child life can have a prominent role in the medical field by educating others on what their role actually includes. The goal of the present study was to show the similarities and differences of Haitian and American nursing students concepts of child life; understanding what nursing students know.
METHOD (continued)
Measures
The pre-test and post-test were identical using 5 questions as the testing material (see Figure 1). For the students in Haiti, a translator assisted the students in understanding the questions. These questions were asked aloud. For the American students, they were given the test on paper.
Scoring
The answers to the testing material were as follows: 1. True 2. False 3. True 4. E 5. Before. Completing the test with all five correct would be considered passing the test. Blank answers were omitted.
RESULTS (continued)
3. Frequencies: Haiti Both Tests Question 2
Figure 3 Pre Figure 4 Post
Figure 5
4. Frequencies: American and Haitian Question 5
Figure 6 Haiti Figure 7 Akron
CONCLUSIONS
The results indicated that nursing students in the U.S. had significantly greater knowledge of child life specialists than nursing students in Haiti. Further, the learning intervention in Haiti did not improve post-test scores for Haitian students. There were several limitations of this study, such as limited survey instrument with only 5 questions due to time and translation constraints. Overall, this study suggests that regardless of teaching interventions, both groups knew something about child life. Future research should explore different methods of teaching about child life specialists that are effective at improving knowledge.
REFERENCES
Answer true or false, One of the tasks of child life specialists is to take vital signs and assess the medical condition of the child. Twenty-nine percent answered true. 67.7% answered false, the correct answer (see Figure 3). For the same question on the post-test, Haitian students scored lower, 71% answering true and 12.9% answering false, demonstrating that the teaching intervention had a negative effect (see Figure 4).
B. Akron Pre-test Question 2:
Akron’s pre-test results for question two demonstrate what these nursing students understand of the child life role. 64.3% answered false, the correct answer, while 35.7% still answered true (see Figure 5).
Figure 1
1. T/F Children benefit from the services child life provides. These services are preparation, education, play, and expression.
2. T/F One of the tasks of child life specialists is to take vital signs and assess the medical condition of the child.
3. T/F Being an advocate and supporting the patient and family is a job for child life specialists.
4. As a nurse, you know that it is important to interact with the patient. What do you think the benefits of interacting or the opportunity of play are for children? Finish the sentence, “Play has many benefits. These benefits include_____”
a. the ability to express feelings
b. the ability to communicate needs
c. the opportunity to learn
d. none of the above
e. all the above
5. When would be a good time to educate a child on a procedure that will happen to them?
____ Before ____ During ____ After
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
How much do American and Haitian nursing students know about child life? How do teaching interventions impact learning?
When would be a good time to educate a child on a procedure that will happen to them? ____ Before ____ During ____ After
Fifty-four percent answered before which is the correct answer. 41.9% answered during and 3.2% had no answer (see Figure 6) For the same question on the post-test, 81% of American students answered before, 11.9% answered during, 2.4% answered after, and 4.8 % said all (see Figure 7)
LEARNING INTERVENTION: PowerPoint slides were made for teaching the child life concepts to the nursing students in Haiti. These concepts were then taught via a lecture and discussion without a presentation of the slides. The information was given to the students in the days between the pre-test and post-tests. Moreover, the concepts could be used to improve the scores on the post-test.
HYPOTHESES
American nursing students will have greater knowledge of a child life specialist’s role. American nursing students will have greater knowledge than Haitian nursing students regarding the role of a child life specialist because the profession is more common in America than Haiti.
There will be a significant difference in the Haitian nursing students’ pre-test scores to post-test scores. With a teaching intervention, they will score better on the post-test.
RESULTS
American Knowledge vs. Haitian Knowledge of Child Life
Figure 2
2. Haitian Students’ Knowledge of Child Life Concepts with Teaching Intervention
An independent samples t-test yielded significant main effect of American students having more knowledge of child life concepts than Haitian students. When comparing the pre-tests of American (M = 4.43, SD = .63) and Haitian (M = 3.68, SD = .79) students t(71) = 4.51, p < .05 as well as comparing the pre-test of the Americans and the Haitian post-test (M = 4.00, SD = .57) , Akron still scored higher than Haitian students t(66) = 2.83, p < .05. Figure 2 shows these results.
METHOD
Participants
n = 31 Haitian Nursing Students
n = 42 University of Akron Nursing Students
2 x 2 Mixed Design
Between-Subjects Factor
2 Nursing Groups: Haitian, Akron
Within-Subjects Factor
Haiti: Pre-test, Post-test
Cole, W., Diener, M., Wright, C.,& Gaynard, L. (2001). Health care professionals’ perceptions of child life specialists. Children’s Health Care. 30(1), 1-15.
Committee on Hospital Care. (2000). Child life services. American Academy of Pediatrics. 106(5),
Sutter, C. & Reid, T. (2012). How do we talk to the children? Child life consultation to support the children of seriously ll adult inpatients. Journal of Palliative Medicine. 15. DOI: /jpm
A paired samples t-test showed that there was no significant difference when comparing the pre-test (M = 3.81, SD = .80) and post-test (M = 4.0, SD = .57) which involved a learning intervention t(25)=.926, p > .05.
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