Short-Term Effects of Hospital Schooling on the Resilience of Hospitalised Children

Abstract

Stresses related to illness, hospitalisation, and the disruption of educational activities and daily routines often have a negative impact on children, with panic situations or anxiety states being the most frequent manifestations. This study explores whether participation in routine hospital school activities is associated with short-term changes in children’s resilience during hospitalisation. The present study aimed to examine the resilience dimensions upon entering and leaving the hospital school and to analyse whether the curriculum-based activities and other parameters related to disease and hospitalisation could influence children’s resilience evolution. A prospective study was conducted with 52 children (31 girls and 21 boys) aged nine to 14 years, who attended the hospital school. The average attendance was one week. The School Resilience Scale for children, which includes five dimensions, was used at admission to the hospital school and before hospital discharge. An adapted visual Likert scale was repeatedly applied after school provision to assess children’s satisfaction with the curriculum-based activities. Upon admission, the resilience percentile was 50.19, improving to 63.40 before discharge (p = 0.022). This improvement was higher in children who attended more than three days of school (p = 0.014). Enjoyment of activities (p = 0.029) and the perception that school lessons helped the children not to worry about illness (p = 0.045) were the only variables associated with the SRS improvement. The observed results suggest that educational activities provided in the hospital school during the evaluated period can positively enhance resilience in hospitalised children.