School aged Children's Adjustment to Hospital Life

학령기 아동의 입원생활 적응

Purpose: The study was done to identify adjustment to hospital life of school aged children. This research was designed as a descriptive study. Method: A convenience sample of 186 patients who were hospitalized children, 6~12 years old. The instrument in this study were developed by researcher and constructed to include 5 sub categories about adjustment to hospital life. They ask children to rate each item on 5 Likert scale. The data were analyzed by SPSS Win Program. Result: The mean average score of adjustment to hospital life was 91.75(SD 11.22); the social support revealed the highest value, followed by self-esteem, stress on disease, stress on hospitalization, and defense strategies. There was differences on bibliographic data; hospital date, disease type. The relationship between adjustment and sub categories was significant, especially in the stress on hospitalization and disease, social support and self-esteem. The relationship between coping strategies and stress on diseases was reversed. Conclusion: These results suggest that pediatric nurses need to be aware of the adjustment to hospital life. A development of nursing intervention program may be useful and critical for hospitalized school aged children.