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Journal of Child Health Care
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Hospitalized children drawing their pain: the contents and cognitive and emotional characteristics of pain drawings

Riitta-Liisa Kortesluoma, LicNSC

Learning and Research Services, University of Oulu, Department of Paediatrics and Adolescence, Oulu University Hospital, Finland, , riitta-liisa.kortesluoma{at}oulu.fi

Raija-Leena Punamäki, PhD

Department of Psychology, University of Tampere, Finland

Merja Nikkonen, PhD, MED, RN

Department of Nursing Science, University of Kuopio, Finland

Describing pain is difficult. Children like to draw, and through their drawing they reveal worrying issues. This study aimed to examine how hospitalized children express pain through drawings, and was carried out by examining children's thematic drawings of pain. A comparison was made between hospitalized children and healthy control groups with respect to the thematic contents and cognitive and emotional characteristics of pain drawings. The drawings were sorted in categories on the basis of content, and cognitive competence and emotional disturbances by the Draw-a-Person procedure. The hospitalized children showed a lower level of cognitive capacity than their healthy controls. The control group children revealed a higher level of emotional disturbance than the hospitalized children. The groups differed in the contents of their drawings. The drawings of the hospitalized children frequently depicted medical procedures, whereas the drawings of the healthy controls depicted more consoling human and family relations.

Key Words: characteristics • content • drawing • paediatric • pain

Journal of Child Health Care, Vol. 12, No. 4, 284-300 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/1367493508096204
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