Abstract
Arts in Health projects are growing in number in the UK. One such project, Singing Medicine (SM), is offered to children with short and long-term health care needs at a Children?s Hospital in England as part of the Hospital?s Play Department. In an environment where children can experience loss of control over decisions and restricted play experiences, musical games and activities offer children affordances for choice and agency. They can also benefit parents and wider family members. In contrast to previous quantitative studies that explored the transferrable benefits of music participation for children, this paper reports on a qualitative study involving semi-structured interviews with families of children with long-term health care needs (ages 3 ? 14 years old). A new concept of ?The Hospital Family? is introduced from analysis of data. Family members valued relational aspects of the musical games and suggested that benefits lasted beyond the life of the child. These findings are explored in the context of ecological systems theory and Froebelian principles.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Nursing children and young people |
Volume | 32 |
Issue number | 3 |
Publication status | Published (VoR) - 11 Nov 2019 |
Keywords
- Singing; Hospitals; Families; Children; Play; Musical Games