Therapeutic play for hospitalized preschoolers in Lebanon.

Therapeutic play in the form of an interactive puppet show was administered to 50 preschool children one day before surgery in a hospital in Lebanon. A control group of 50 preschool children received routine care but no therapeutic play. Physiological and behavioral measures were assessed on admission, at the time of a stressful procedure (preoperative injection), after surgery, and after discharge. Although on admission there had been on significant differences between the means on physiological measures for the two groups, the children who received the therapeutic play intervention manifested markedly less anxiety and more cooperation and had significantly lower mean blood pressures and pulse rates during the injection than the control group. Following surgery, the experimental group took less time to void their bladders, another physiological indication of lower stress level. After hospital discharge, the children who had received therapeutic play had significantly lower scores on all six factors of the Post Hospital Behavior Questionnaire. This study demonstrates that therapeutic play is a valid means of reducing stressful responses to hospitalization and surgery among children in Lebanon.