Knowledge, opinions and applications of pediatric nurses towards therapeutic games

Aim: The study was conducted to determine knowledge, opinions and practices of pediatric nurses about therapeutic plays. Material and Method: This descriptive study was conducted with 126 nurses working in pediatric clinics of four hospitals located in the Malatya, Diyarbakır and Batman between December 2016 and May 2017. The data were collected using "Introductory information form for nurses" and "questionnaire for evaluating nurses' knowledge, opinions and practices about therapeutic plays." Percentages, arithmetic mean, and standard deviation were used in the evaluation of the data. Results: The mean age of the nurses was 30.89±7.18, 82.5% of women and 4% was working in pediatric clinics for 6 years or more. Of the nurses, 81.7% stated that therapeutic play is the best way for children to express their feelings and thoughts about the procedures performed at the hospital, 64.2% stated that therapeutic plays increased the communication between children and nurses, and 77.7% stated that the children should play therapeutic games in the pediatric clinics. On the other hand, 79.4% of the nurses stated that they applied therapeutic plays occasionally, and 48.5% did not play therapeutic plays with children in pediatric clinics. Of the nurses, 59.5% stated that they did not apply therapeutic plays due to overcrowded setting in the clinic. Drawing pictures (50.7%) and playing with model intravenous set, injector, nasogastric tubes (48.4%) were among the therapeutic plays that nurses play with children most frequently. Conclusion: It was determined that pediatric nurses have adequate knowledge about therapeutic play methods, but do not use them sufficiently in practice. Keywords: Therapeutic Plays, Children, Hospital, Nurse, Practice and Opinions