title: Children in the hospital: elements of quality in drawings.
abstract: Not much is known about how children perceive the quality of care that they receive in hospitals. This study set out to describe elements of quality in children's drawings of an ideal hospital. Thirty-five drawings were collected from children aged between 4 and 11 years during their stay in a university hospital in Finland. They were coded using the method of content analysis. The two main categories extracted from the analysis were the environment and the people of their ideal hospital. The emphasis was on the environment; patients, parents, and nurses appeared less frequently in the drawings. The findings showed that children are capable of offering valuable insights into the elements of quality through the medium of drawing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing Science, University of Turku, Turku, Finland. tiina.pelander@utu.fi
authors.forename: Tiina
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pelander
authors.forename: Kimmo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lehtonen
authors.forename: Helena
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Leino-Kilpi
mesh_terms: D001154:Art; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002648:Child; D002673:Child, Hospitalized / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D006272:Health Facility Environment; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D007374:Interior Design and Furnishings; D008297:Male; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology; D010564:Personnel, Hospital / Q000523:psychology; D010988:Play and Playthings; D002666:Psychology, Child; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012904:Smiling / Q000523:psychology