Child and Parent Psychosocial Experiences of Hospitalization: An Examination of the Role of Child Life Specialists

Hospitalization can be stressful for child patients and their parents, and stress during hospitalization is associated with longer recovery times and negative outcomes post-discharge. As a result, families need psychosocial support to cope with hospitalization. Child life specialists in children’s hospitals are trained to address this need, and there is empirical support for many of the techniques used by child life specialists. However, there is limited empirical support specific to child life services. In the current study, the authors examined differences in child anxiety and distress, parent stress, and parent-child relationship quality between families who received child life services and those who did not. Participants included 31 children between 3 and 15 years old who were admitted to a children’s hospital in the United States and their parents. Children completed a drawing task and responded to a visual scale, and parents completed a survey. Results indicated children who received child life services tended to exhibit lower anxiety, but there were no differences in parent outcomes based on receipt of child life services. Overall, the study provides promising preliminary evidence for the efficacy of child life services in improving children’s psychosocial experience of hospitalization. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.