title: Children's views of hospitalization: an exploratory study of data collection.
abstract: Identifying children's views of their experience of hospitalization is essential to the development of appropriate services. Previous research has mainly concentrated on specific paediatric populations or negative aspects of their experience. This study had two aims. First, to investigate a broader range of experiences in a general paediatric population, and second, to determine the most effective way of obtaining the information. School-aged children (n = 213) from the paediatric wards of two district general hospitals completed one of four questionnaire types. The themes identified were generally positive and mainly related to the children's physical surroundings. A verbal structured questionnaire was found to be the most efficient at obtaining the children's views, whereas a visual structured questionnaire was the only method which recognized the children's sequence of feelings before, during and after hospitalization.
authors.affiliation: Crosshouse Hospital, Kilmarnock, UK. Terri.Carney@aapct.scot.nhs.uk
authors.forename: Terri
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Carney
authors.forename: Shona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: McClure
authors.forename: Eileen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bishop
authors.forename: Carole
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kerr
authors.forename: Janet
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Parker
authors.forename: Fiona
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Scott
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Shields
authors.forename: Liz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wilson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010465:Perception