Pandemic fiction as therapeutic play: The New York Times Magazine’s The Decameron Project (2020)

This article explores the therapeutic potential of narrative fiction during a global health crisis. We focus on The Decameron Project (2020), a collection of short fiction by writers from around the world, commissioned by the New York Times Magazine. The Decameron Project references the narrative framework established by Giovanni Boccaccio in the mid-14th century, when the Black Death devastated Europe. Drawing on aspects of psychoanalytic theory and principles of bibliotherapy employed since the Middle Ages, we argue that The Decameron Project offers strategies to simultaneously confront and contain the anxious mind. Storytelling, according to both Boccaccio and to the editors of The Decameron Project, is not merely a source of distraction but a means of survival.

Exploring playfulness in paediatric music therapy using an action research approach

<p>Playfulness is a disposition which promotes adaptability across the lifespan. Attuned co-playfulness is a therapeutic tool requiring self-awareness of the disposition by the therapist. As a music therapy student working on a paediatric ward in a therapeutic play environment, the intersection of music therapy, therapeutic play and playfulness inspired this research. Specific research on playfulness in music therapy is limited. This research investigated playfulness in music therapy practice: how and when playfulness manifested in interpersonal interaction, both within and without music, to foster the therapeutic process. Using an interpretivist, qualitative methodology and an action research approach, three cycles of action research were completed. Cycle one examined how playfulness was evidenced in my practice. Playfulness was evident when I was childlike, free from rules, the music therapy had elements of incongruence, I used humour or experienced joy. Playfulness was most evident with children up to five years of age. Cycle two explored playfulness in music therapy with children in middle childhood. Themes from this cycle included giving children time to warm up, using humour and primarily, collaboration. Cycle three explored the context for playfulness. Playfulness was most evident when music therapy occurred in the playroom or at bedside, without interruption. Playfulness was more evident with a supportive family member present and when there was some familiarity between music therapy student and patient. Confidence levels, health status and responses to the hospital environment impacted on playfulness for both patients and the music therapy student. Playfulness was shown to be a marker of health and wellbeing for the music therapy student. Experiencing a lack of playfulness was a potential indicator of secondary traumatic stress and the need for increased self-care. Exhibiting a lack of playfulness was an appropriate clinical strategy which enabled affective state attunement with participants, supporting the intersubjective therapeutic process. This research raises the relevance of playfulness as a viable therapeutic marker in music therapy for children and adolescents, and as an indicator of wellbeing for music therapists. The findings are specific to this research setting and period and are not generalizable.</p>

Exploring playfulness in paediatric music therapy using an action research approach

<p>Playfulness is a disposition which promotes adaptability across the lifespan. Attuned co-playfulness is a therapeutic tool requiring self-awareness of the disposition by the therapist. As a music therapy student working on a paediatric ward in a therapeutic play environment, the intersection of music therapy, therapeutic play and playfulness inspired this research. Specific research on playfulness in music therapy is limited. This research investigated playfulness in music therapy practice: how and when playfulness manifested in interpersonal interaction, both within and without music, to foster the therapeutic process. Using an interpretivist, qualitative methodology and an action research approach, three cycles of action research were completed. Cycle one examined how playfulness was evidenced in my practice. Playfulness was evident when I was childlike, free from rules, the music therapy had elements of incongruence, I used humour or experienced joy. Playfulness was most evident with children up to five years of age. Cycle two explored playfulness in music therapy with children in middle childhood. Themes from this cycle included giving children time to warm up, using humour and primarily, collaboration. Cycle three explored the context for playfulness. Playfulness was most evident when music therapy occurred in the playroom or at bedside, without interruption. Playfulness was more evident with a supportive family member present and when there was some familiarity between music therapy student and patient. Confidence levels, health status and responses to the hospital environment impacted on playfulness for both patients and the music therapy student. Playfulness was shown to be a marker of health and wellbeing for the music therapy student. Experiencing a lack of playfulness was a potential indicator of secondary traumatic stress and the need for increased self-care. Exhibiting a lack of playfulness was an appropriate clinical strategy which enabled affective state attunement with participants, supporting the intersubjective therapeutic process. This research raises the relevance of playfulness as a viable therapeutic marker in music therapy for children and adolescents, and as an indicator of wellbeing for music therapists. The findings are specific to this research setting and period and are not generalizable.</p>

Analysing Drawing in Non-Directive Play: A Case of 6-Year-Old Girl with Emotional Problems

Behavioural and emotional problem is commonly reported in childhood, some cases require psychological management. Non-directive therapeutic play or child-led play that always involve spontaneous drawing, is one of the most natural and potential means to work with children, yet it is not being fully utilised and explored. This is a single case study, of a 6-year-old girl, referred for therapeutic child-led play skill session for being easily irritable and aggressive at home. Following 20 sessions with a trained therapeutic play practitioner, mother reported marked improvement in her child’s emotional regulation. We explored the child’s emotional standing when she was drawing, as well as the changes that evolved as we analysed series of drawings she produced throughout the therapy. We conclude that careful analyses of spontaneous drawing, coupled with in-session behavioural observation, and reflection, emotional state of the child can be tacit. This information is consistent with parent-reported scoring.

The outcome of an attachment-based infant mental health therapeutic play programme on infant temperament, parent-infant relationship & maternal reflective functioning

AimsIn the Philippines, there is a need for preventive, early intervention programs for perinatal and infant mental health. This is the first local study that investigated an attachment-based, therapeutic play programme (Baby Bonding) on infant temperament, parent-infant relationship and maternal reflecting functioning.BackgroundThis study was an effort towards bridging the “10/90 gap in infant mental health research” wherein 90% of the world's infants are born in low- middle-income countries (Population Reference Bureau, 2013b) and “only 10% of the worldwide spending on health research is directed towards the problems that primarily affect the poorest 90% of the world's population (Tomlinson et al., 2014).MethodPhase I involved local validation of the Parent-Rated Outcome Measures (PROM)- Infant Characteristics Questionnaire (ICQ), Mother Object Relations Scale (MORS) and Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (PRFQ).Healthy mother-baby dyads, from the low socio-economic stratum, were screened using Parent Evaluation of Developmental Status (PEDS) and Hospital and Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS).Phase II carried out randomized controlled design wherein mother-baby dyads were enrolled either in the usual care group or the 6-weekly Baby Bonding intervention.Result102 mothers answered the PROM. Their responses constituted the training set of the study tools. Baseline responses of the mothers from the usual care (N = 51) and intervention (N = 53) groups formed the evaluation set for the Filipino- translated instruments. In both the training and evaluation sets, if certain identified questions were to be removed from the PROM, better and acceptable Cronbach values were consistently generated.There were no statistical differences on parent-infant relationship and reflective functioning between the usual care and intervention group. There was movement of the intervention group from high-challenging onto intermediate to low-levels of challenging temperament in the dull-dimension of the ICQ after 6 sessions. In comparison, infants in the control group remained in the high-challenging temperament after 6 weeks of usual care.ConclusionLinguistically validated study instruments (ICQ and MORS) provided accurate assessments of infant temperament and parent-child relationship. The Filipino-translated PRFQ has limited validity in evaluating parental reflective functioning (RF). “On-line” measures that video mother-baby interactions could have better captured changes in RF. As measured by the dull dimension of the ICQ, the Baby Bonding programme improved sociability of the infants (7 months or younger).

Play therapy in the prevention of behavioural disorders of school-aged children

The main goal of this research was to identify and understand the effects of play therapy on the prevention of behavioural disorders of younger school-aged children. A semi-structured interview was used as the data collection method with 17 open-ended questions. The study participants were seven parents whose children were involved in play therapy treatment for at least 3 months. It has been shown that play therapy is an effective medium in empathy development, more successful emotion management, encouragement of non-violent communication and reduction in aggressive behaviour. It can be concluded that the effectiveness of play therapy in the prevention of behavioural disorders significantly depends on the involvement of parents in treatment and the relationship between a therapist and a child. This research certainly serves as a basis for further research that will recognise the importance of therapeutic play in solving emotional and/or behavioural difficulties of children and youth. Keywords: Behavioural disorders, child, play therapy, prevention.

Coloring Pictures as Play Therapy to Reduce Impact of Hospitalization among Children in Hospital

The impact of hospitalization on preschool children may impair the child’s development and healing process. Therefore it is important to minimize the impact of hospitalization. One method to achieve this is by allowing children to play. The purpose of this study was to figure out the effect of therapeutic play (by coloring pictures) on the impact of hospitalization on preschool children in the child care unit of Cibabat-Cimahi Regional Public Hospital, West Java, Indonesia. This was quasi-experimental research with One Group Pre-test Post-test, with a sample of 15 respondents taken by quota sampling. The instrument used was Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to play coloring pictures and questionnaires on the impact of hospitalization. Coloring pictures was performed once a day (15 minutes / intervention) for 2 days. The data analysis was employed paired with a sample t-test. This research shows the influence of coloring pictures on the impact of hospitalization, with the result of the paired sample t-test statistic shows p value 0.003 (p <0.05). Nurses are expected to be more active in applying coloring pictures to preschool children undergoing hospitalization to reduce the impact of hospitalization. Keywords: Coloring, Hospitalization, Preschool

Intervenções de Enfermagem Promotoras da Adaptação da Criança/Jovem/Família à Hospitalização: uma Scoping Review

Objetivo: Identificar el proceso de adaptación del niño y la familia a la hospitalización y mapear las intervenciones de enfermería que promueven la adaptación a la hospitalización del niño/joven/familia. Método: Elaboración de Scoping Review basado en Joanna Briggs Institute (2014). Criterios de inclusión para Población: Niño, Joven (0-18 años) y Familia; Concepto: Intervenciones promotoras hacia la adaptación y Contexto: Hospitalización. Los estudios considerados fueron estudios cuantitativos, cualitativos y revisiones sistemáticas. Búsqueda de artículos en tres bases de datos electrónicas - PUBMED, MEDLINE y CINAHL. Criterio de selección: datados entre 2012 y 2019 y en régimen full text. Idiomas: inglés y portugués.Resultados: Se analizaron un total de 14 artículos, destacando que el diseño del estudio incluye 2 revisiones sistemáticas de la literatura, 7 estudios cualitativos y 5 cuantitativos. Los resultados del análisis se organizaron por temas: adaptación del niño a la hospitalización, adaptación de los padres y estrategias que promueven la adaptación a la hospitalización. Las intervenciones dirigidas a los niños se centran en el fortalecimiento de los mecanismos para hacer frente a los problemas y en el aumento de la seguridad, y se han clasificado en estrategias de comunicación; actividades recreativas y de relajación; promoción de la esperanza y estrategias de coping.Conclusión: Las intervenciones de enfermería promotoras de la adaptación a la hospitalización mapeadas pretenden disminuir la ansiedad y el estrés del niño / familia, aumentando la capacidad para recibir información, participar en el cuidado y en las decisiones. Se destacan el juego terapéutico, informaciones anticipatorias, técnicas de relajación, distracción, humor, musicoterapia, kits de adaptación, grupos terapéuticos y estrategias promotoras de esperanza. Objective: Identify the adaptation process of the child and family to hospitalization and map the nursing interventions that promote the child/youth/family’s adaptation to hospitalization. Method: Elaboration of a Scoping Review based on the Joanna Briggs Institute (2014). Inclusion criteria - Population: Child, Young (0-18 years old); Concept: Interventions promoting adaptation and Context: Hospitalization. The studies considered were quantitative, qualitative and systematic reviews. Electronic databases used for article search - PUBMED, MEDLINE and CINAHL. Selection criteria: full text articles dated between 2012 and 2019. Languages of inclusion: Portuguese and English.Results: A total of 14 articles were analyzed, including 2 systematic reviews of the literature, 7 qualitative studies and 5 quantitative studies. The results of the analysis were organized by themes: the child's adaptation to hospitalization, the parent’s adaptation to hospitalization and strategies promoting adaptation to hospitalization. The interventions aimed at children are focused on strengthening coping mechanisms and on increasing the sense of security. These have been categorized into communication strategies; playful activities and relaxation activities; and promotion of hope and coping strategies.Conclusion: The mapped Nursing interventions that promote adaptation to hospitalization intend to decrease the child / family’s anxiety and stress, increasing the ability to receive information and to participate in care and decisions. Intervention such as therapeutic play, anticipatory information, relaxation techniques, distraction, humor, music therapy, adaptation kits, therapeutic groups and hope-promoting strategies are emphasized. Objetivo: Identificar o processo de adaptação da criança e família à hospitalização e mapear as intervenções de enfermagem promotoras da adaptação à hospitalização da criança/jovem/família. Método: Elaboração de uma Scoping Review com base no Joanna Briggs Institute (2014). Critérios de inclusão - População: Criança, Jovem (0-18 anos); Conceito: Intervenções promotoras da adaptação e Contexto: Hospitalização. Os estudos considerados foram estudos quantitativos, qualitativos e revisões sistemáticas. Pesquisa de artigos em três bases de dados eletrónicas – PUBMED, MEDLINE e CINAHL. Critério de selecção: datados entre 2012 e 2019 e em regime full text. Línguas de inclusão: Português e Inglês.Resultados: Foram analisados 14 artigos, salientando-se que o desenho de estudo incluem 2 revisões sistemáticas da literatura, 7 estudos qualitativos e 5 quantitativos. Os resultados da análise foram organizados por temas: adaptação da criança à hospitalização, adaptação dos pais à hospitalização e estratégias promotoras de adaptação à hospitalização. As intervenções dirigidas à criança centram-se no fortalecimento dos mecanismos de enfrentamento e no aumento da segurança, tendo estas sido categorizadas em estratégias comunicacionais; atividades lúdicas/brincar e atividades de relaxamento; promoção da esperança e estratégias de coping.Conclusão: As intervenções de Enfermagem promotoras da adaptação à hospitalização mapeadas visam diminuir a ansiedade e stress da criança/família, aumentando a capacidade para receber informação, participar nos cuidados e em decisões. Destacam-se a brincadeira terapêutica, informações antecipatórias, técnicas de relaxamento, distração, humor, musicoterapia, kits de adaptação, grupos terapêuticos e estratégias promotoras de esperança.