Playing with hospitalized children as a tool for health promotion and recovery: an integrative review

Playing is one of the most important aspects in the child's life, being an important tool in the process of reducing pain caused by hospitalization. Thus, the playful resource favors the child's social, emotional and intellectual development. In addition, it reduces stress, fear and anxiety caused by hospitalization. Thus, the objective of this work was to carry out an integrative literature review on playing with hospitalized children. An integrative review of articles published in Portuguese and English was carried out, available in full on the Science direct, Scielo and PubMed databases. The descriptors "children", "play," "hospital" were used. It was found that there is a modest production about playing and hospitalized children, and the act of playing promotes a playful approach, reduces negative feelings, allows greater interaction with the health team, promoting health recovery. Therefore, we conclude that playing with hospitalized children is of fundamental importance for the maintenance of the child’s mental health, given that it reduces their anxiety levels, collaborating in a very efficient way towards the progress of the treatment.