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.
