[Emotional reactions of children to hospitalization]

Abstract

Two central problems concerning the emotions and reactions of children to a stay in a hospital combined with an operation are dealt with from a psychological point of view: 1. Why is a stay in a hospital still being equated with suffering? and 2. What do we know empirically about the emotions and reactions of children? It is explained and discussed why even the most recent textbooks have not been able to take into account the development or research since 1980 and are therefore rendering a distorted image. The present state of the art is described. The following findings are presented amongst others: The preoperative fear or anxiety of children has been overestimated; postoperative behavioural anomalies and disturbances of the feeling tone have been observed in about two-thirds of the children younger than approximately 3 1/2 years of age. However, independent of the negative mental sequels, positive ones are also possible. Outpatient surgery does not offer any advantages to the child compared to operations with short-term inpatient treatment (however, disadvantages have not been seen, either).