The impact of a creative play intervention on satisfaction with nursing care: A mixed-methods study.

PURPOSE: Hospitalisation can lead to distress for children. Creative play may reduce the adverse effects of hospitalisation on children, as it could lead to children associating satisfaction and fun with their hospital experience. The aim of the current study is to investigate the impact of a creative play intervention on service-care satisfaction measurements of children and their parents.

DESIGN AND METHODS: A mixed-methods design consisting of quantitative pre/post-assessments and qualitative interviews was used within this study. The research was conducted with 30 children (nexperimental group = 15; ncontrol group = 15). Their parents (n = 30) and their nurse practitioners (n = 20) were also contacted in order to capture their reflections of this intervention which included creative activities with unused clean medical materials. Child participants completed the Patient's Nursing Care Perception Tool and their parents completed the PedsQL Health Care Satisfaction Tool.

RESULTS: The two groups did not differ in relation to the Patients' Nursing Care Satisfaction Tool (PNCST) (t(28): 0.348, p = .730) and the PedsQL (t(28): -0.189, p = .852) scores at Time 1 before the intervention; however, significant differences were observed at the end at Time 2 (PNCST: t(28): -11.63, p < .001; PedsQL: t(28): -12.416, p < .001). In qualitative interviews, nurses indicated that their play skills with children had been enhanced by this intervention. Family attendants reported that the intervention improved the nurse-child relationship and their satisfaction with care.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: The results have shown that creative play intervention are a feasible nursing intervention which has a strong potential to be effective on child patients' and their attendants' satisfaction with care services.