A comparison of psychological well-being of children with chronic illnesses and their healthy peers through children's drawings

Psychological well-being of children with chronic illnesses is affected by illness process. Therefore, it is believed that a systematic attempt examining the psychological difficulties with multiple respondents and age-appropriate methods is important. The current thesis aimed to compare psychological well-being of children with chronic illnesses and their healthy peers through their drawings and parental reports. The participants consisted of 49 children with chronic illnesses, 66 healthy children (6-12 years) and their parents. Parents filled Demographic Information Form and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) while children were drawing Human Figure Drawings (HFD), Family Drawings and a picture of where they would like to be at that moment. According to the results of ANOVA and Chi-Square analyses; children with chronic illnesses had significantly higher numbers of emotional indicators on HFD than healthy children, parents of children with chronic illnesses reported significantly higher Emotional Symptoms scores on SDQ than parents of healthy children, and drawings of where they would like to be at that time reflected different wishes of chronically ill and healthy children. In addition; results indicated that boys had significantly higher numbers of emotional indicators on HFD than girls regardless of health status, and also chronically ill boys had higher numbers of emotional indicators on HFD and emotional tone scores of Family Drawings than healthy boys. These results showed that chronically ill children, especially boys, had higher risks for emotional difficulties so their psychological well-being should be improved besides their physical well-being. Keywords: Children, Chronic Illnesses, Hospitalization, Drawings, Psychological Well-Being