Efficacy Of Art Therapy in Reducing Anxiety Among Hospitalized Children: Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial

Volume: 11 | Issue: 02 | Year 2025 | Subscription
International Journal of Pediatric Nursing
Received Date: 05/26/2025
Acceptance Date: 09/16/2025
Published On: 2025-09-22
First Page: 14
Last Page: 22

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By: Punarva M.H, Vasanth T., and Kavishma

1.Professor, Child Health Nursing Department, Alva’s College of Nursing Moodubidire Dakshina kannada, Karnataka, India.
2.Senior paediatrician, Alva’s Health Centre, Mudbidri, Karnataka, India.
3.Student, Dakshina kannada, Alva’s College of Nursing Moodubidire, Dakshina kannada, Karnataka, India

Abstract

Background: Hospitalization has emotional and developmental impact on the children. Art therapy is distraction strategy to reduce anxiety and stress level of hospitalized child, improves mood and communication, promoting emotional and physical wellbeing. Method: 40 children aged between 3-7 years who were admitted to G V Pai and Alvas health canter, Karnataka were selected for the study. True experimental design with simple random sampling technique was adopted to select samples and dividing them as control and art therapy group (20 in each group). The intervention Art therapy was initiated for 15-20 minutes. Anxiety as the main outcome variable measured using the Self-Structured Anxiety Inventory. Descriptive and inferential statistics was utilized for analysis. Results: The mean percentage of post intervention anxiety score in the experimental group (27.89%) was lower than the pre-test anxiety scores (37.02) % showing a reduction of (9.12) % anxiety. Pre-test and post-test mean anxiety scores were statistically significant at 0.05 level of significance Art therapy was found to be effective in significantly reducing anxiety levels in the intervention group. Paired differences of mean anxiety scores among both groups is statistically significant p < 0.05, It shows that anxiety levels among the experimental group reduced compared to the control group. Conclusion: The study demonstrated that art therapy proved to reduce anxiety levels among participants in the experimental group than control group. Therefore, art therapy emerges as a valuable, non-invasive, non-pharmacological and child-friendly intervention that can be effectively integrated into the care of hospitalized children.

Keywords: Art therapy; children; Anxiety; Hospitalization; Fear  

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Citation:

How to cite this article: Punarva M.H, Vasanth T., and Kavishma, Efficacy Of Art Therapy in Reducing Anxiety Among Hospitalized Children: Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial. International Journal of Pediatric Nursing. 2025; 11(02): 14-22p.

How to cite this URL: Punarva M.H, Vasanth T., and Kavishma, Efficacy Of Art Therapy in Reducing Anxiety Among Hospitalized Children: Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial. International Journal of Pediatric Nursing. 2025; 11(02): 14-22p. Available from:https://journalspub.com/publication/ijpn/article=19990

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