Determination of nursing perceptions and affecting factors using the drawing method of children in the 7-9 year old group who admit to the Pediatric Emergency Department

Aim: This research aims to review children's perceptions of the profession and nurses and to reveal the factors affecting these perceptions. Method: The research was conducted between 24.09.2019 and 24.01.2024, as a mixed design, using a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods, with 47 children aged 7-9 years who applied to the pediatric emergency department. The data are "Child-Parent Information Form", "Process Follow-up Form", "Child Fear Scale", "Picture Drawn by the Child", "Semi-Structured Interview Form", "Children's Drawings Evaluation Form" and "Children's Drawings" collected by drawing. In the analysis of the data, numbers, percentages and descriptive statistics regarding the descriptive characteristics of the children and their parents, the applications performed, the children's fear scores and the characteristics of the drawn pictures were given. The pictures drawn by the children were evaluated by the researcher and the child psychologist, and the thematic analysis of the obtained data was made. Results: 27 of the children participating in the research are girls and their average age is 8. In the pictures, 79.1% of the children drew the nurse as a woman, 76.7% drew a smiling face, 60% drew a cap, and 72.1% drew the nurse's limbs missing. It was found that the children with positive nursing perception expressions in their pictures knew nurses and 58.6% had a fear score of "0" before the procedure. Factors affecting children's perception of nursing were interpreted as communication with the nurse, the child's ability to cope with anxiety/fear, the person next to him, psychological resilience and past experiences. Conclusion: According to picture analysis, children's fears about the hospital and the procedure caused a negative perception of the nurse; It was concluded that the nurses' approach, the presence of the child's mother and the child's psychological resilience caused a positive nursing perception.