The psychosocial responses of school-age children to hospitalization.

This study examined the psychosocial responses of school-age children to hospitalization. The subjects were 50 children, between 8 and 12 years of age, who were unscheduled admissions. The children's usual pre-hospital behavior was compared to their behavior during the first week following hospitalization and one month after dismissal. Repeated measure analysis of variance was used to demonstrate that there was no change in the school-age children's behavior following hospitalization. A moderate relationship was found between the children's usual prehospital behavior and the number of previous hospitalizations. Family function was related only to the children's behavior one week after dimissal. the children's usual prehospital behavioral problems were related to their behavior at all three times. No relationship was found between the length of hospitalization or the number of previous hospitalizations and their post hospital behavior.