title: Head lice in drawings of kindergarten children.
abstract: Drawings by kindergarten children were analyzed in order to study the emotional reaction of these children to head lice. The choice of color was significant (black was used by 43% of the children, indicating that the subject of lice is associated with anxiety and fear) as were the unhappy faces and omissions of mouths in the drawings. While we know today that lice do not discriminate between clean and dirty hair, parents and professionals react very negatively to the condition, and this feeling is transferred to children as indicated by their drawings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, University-Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: K Y
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Mumcuoglu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001154:Art; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010373:Lice Infestations / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D010374:Pediculus; D012803:Sick Role