Effects of Therapeutic Play Program on the Pre-operative Anxiety of the Preschooler

치료적 놀이 프로그램이 학령전 아동의 수술 전 불안에 미치는 효과

Purpose: This study was designed to examine the effects of Therapeutic Play Program on the pre-operative anxiety of the preschoolers. The design of this study is a quasi experimental study of non-equivalent control group pre-test/post-test design. Method: The subjects of this study were the hospitalized preschoolers receiving an operation in C University Hospital. These totalled 60 and were divided into a 30-person-control-group and a 30-person-experimental-group. The data was collected from June 1 to October 5, 2002. The Experimental treatment was carried out according to Therapeutic Play Program developed by Researcher. The instruments used in this study were the observational records for Hospitalized preschooler's Anxiety behavior response, pulse rate, and respiration rate of the preschooler's. The collected data were analyzed with real numbers, percentage, t-test, and $X^2$-test, using SPSS WIN 11.0 program. Result: Hypothesis, "The experimental group provided with a Therapeutic Play Program would show a lower score of the pre-operative anxiety behavior(t=13.79, p=.00), pre-operative pulse(t=4.50, p=.00) and pre-operative respiration rate(t=4.29, p=.00) response than when the control group was not provided", was supported. Conclusion: Therapeutic Play Program is determined to be useful for reducing Pre-operative anxiety of the preschoolers.