Effectiveness of pretend medical play in improving children's health outcomes and well-being: a systematic review.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The healthcare setting is stressful for many people, especially children. Efforts are needed to mitigate children's healthcare-related anxiety. Medical play using the Teddy Bear Hospital (TBH) concept can expose children to healthcare settings and help them develop positive experiences in these settings. In this role-playing game, children bring their soft toys and act as parents to the 'sick' teddies in a pretend hospital or clinic play setting. The objective of this systematic review is to evaluate the effectiveness of the TBH in improving children's health outcomes and well-being.

Methods

We searched the reference lists of included studies from four electronic databases (PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus and Google Scholar) from inception until November 2020. We included

SUBMITTER: Rashid AA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7818823 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature