Peer-reviewed article
'If not through play, I can't imagine how they would cope': The therapeutic potential of play for hospitalised children, their caregivers, and healthcare institutions.
Glos A, Díaz LS, López AS ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This qualitative study explored how play benefits hospitalised children and those around them in four Chilean hospitals. Healthcare professionals reported that play helps children cope with hospital stress and reduces the risk of medical trauma. Play also supports families dealing with a child's illness and helps health professionals manage the emotional demands of paediatric care. The researchers suggest play should be part of standard child-friendly nursing care and can strengthen relationships between children, families, and healthcare staff.
Key points
- Play helps children adapt to the hospital environment and reduces stress and medical trauma risk
- Play provides relief and coping support for families distressed by a child's illness or death
- Play serves as a resilience factor for health professionals managing emotional challenges in paediatric care
- Play fosters organisational change toward more inclusive, less hierarchical, and child-friendly healthcare environments
- Intergenerational, family-based play interventions can strengthen bonds and build trust in hospital settings
Limitations
This study relies on the perceptions and experiences of 34 healthcare professionals rather than direct measurement of children's outcomes or systematic observation of play interventions. The findings reflect practitioners' views and cannot demonstrate causal effects or compare play interventions to other approaches.
Abstract
Purpose To explore the therapeutic potential of hospital play for children, their caregivers, and health professionals. Design and method This exploratory qualitative study recruited 34 healthcare professionals from four hospitals in different regions of Chile through purposive sampling. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analysed using reflective thematic analysis. Results Play helps children adapt to the hospital environment, reducing their stress and mitigating the risk of medical trauma. It also offers relief to families in distress and assists them in coping with the pain they may be experiencing in response to a child's illness or death. Furthermore, play is a vital resilience-building factor for health professionals, helping them manage the emotional challenges of paediatric care. Finally, play acts as a catalyst for organisational change by fostering a more inclusive, less hierarchical, and more child-friendly healthcare environment. Conclusion This study reveals a win-win dynamic of play, wherein supporting children's well-being through play during hospitalisation yields significant therapeutic benefits for the adults involved. Practice implication In a hospital, children's play should be recognised as an integral component of child-friendly nursing care. Many play activities would benefit from intergenerational participation, as these can strengthen bonds between children, families, and health professionals. Through intergenerational, family-based play interventions, nurses can promote trust and create a sense of community in challenging hospital settings.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Play activities in hospital settings, including intergenerational and family-based play interventions integrated into nursing care
- Population
- Hospitalised children, their caregivers, and healthcare professionals in four hospitals across different regions of Chile
Key finding
Play helps children adapt to hospital environment and reduces stress and medical trauma risk
A et al. · Europe PMC · 25 Jul 2026