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Fulfilling Children’s Right to Play in the Hospital Setting: A Scoping Review of the Literature

Received: 6 January 2023    Accepted: 3 February 2023    Published: 14 February 2023
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Abstract

There is growing recognition of the importance of fulfilling children’s right to play under Article 31 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child within the context of the hospital setting. Methodologically, a scoping review approach was used to review the literature, with the aim of identifying and rapidly mapping the existing evidence related to children’s fulfilment of Article 31. Scoping reviews are considered to be particularly useful when a body of literature has yet to be comprehensively covered or when the scope of the literature is not amenable to a systematic review of the evidence. In this research, a scoping review approach was chosen to summarize the research findings, including those from social media platforms, leading to the identification of gaps in the literature, which may in part, be due to limitations in the discoverability of information linked to children’s right to play in the context of hospital settings. Guidance from Peters et al. was used to conduct and structure the scoping review under 10 clearly defined points and a number of key characteristics are discussed, using two broad questions: 1) How important is play for children’s health, particularly when they are ill or have chronic health conditions? 2) How does current health service provision fulfil children’s rights to play as defined by article 31 of the UNCRC? The review identifies a consistent lack of robust empirical evidence that makes play service delivery vulnerable due to fiscal challenges. However, the use of social media platforms to elicit the rich, qualitative narrative around play provision in hospital settings highlights advocacy for play provision by play teams and those who value and use their services.

Published in Social Sciences (Volume 12, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.ss.20231201.15
Page(s) 34-46
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Play, Hospital, Rights, Health, Illness, Playworkers

References
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Alison Tonkin, Chika Matsudaira, Joanna Golebicka, Catherine Hubbuck. (2023). Fulfilling Children’s Right to Play in the Hospital Setting: A Scoping Review of the Literature. Social Sciences, 12(1), 34-46. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20231201.15

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    Alison Tonkin; Chika Matsudaira; Joanna Golebicka; Catherine Hubbuck. Fulfilling Children’s Right to Play in the Hospital Setting: A Scoping Review of the Literature. Soc. Sci. 2023, 12(1), 34-46. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20231201.15

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    AMA Style

    Alison Tonkin, Chika Matsudaira, Joanna Golebicka, Catherine Hubbuck. Fulfilling Children’s Right to Play in the Hospital Setting: A Scoping Review of the Literature. Soc Sci. 2023;12(1):34-46. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20231201.15

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ss.20231201.15,
      author = {Alison Tonkin and Chika Matsudaira and Joanna Golebicka and Catherine Hubbuck},
      title = {Fulfilling Children’s Right to Play in the Hospital Setting: A Scoping Review of the Literature},
      journal = {Social Sciences},
      volume = {12},
      number = {1},
      pages = {34-46},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ss.20231201.15},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20231201.15},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ss.20231201.15},
      abstract = {There is growing recognition of the importance of fulfilling children’s right to play under Article 31 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child within the context of the hospital setting. Methodologically, a scoping review approach was used to review the literature, with the aim of identifying and rapidly mapping the existing evidence related to children’s fulfilment of Article 31. Scoping reviews are considered to be particularly useful when a body of literature has yet to be comprehensively covered or when the scope of the literature is not amenable to a systematic review of the evidence. In this research, a scoping review approach was chosen to summarize the research findings, including those from social media platforms, leading to the identification of gaps in the literature, which may in part, be due to limitations in the discoverability of information linked to children’s right to play in the context of hospital settings. Guidance from Peters et al. was used to conduct and structure the scoping review under 10 clearly defined points and a number of key characteristics are discussed, using two broad questions: 1) How important is play for children’s health, particularly when they are ill or have chronic health conditions? 2) How does current health service provision fulfil children’s rights to play as defined by article 31 of the UNCRC? The review identifies a consistent lack of robust empirical evidence that makes play service delivery vulnerable due to fiscal challenges. However, the use of social media platforms to elicit the rich, qualitative narrative around play provision in hospital settings highlights advocacy for play provision by play teams and those who value and use their services.},
     year = {2023}
    }
    

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    AU  - Chika Matsudaira
    AU  - Joanna Golebicka
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    AB  - There is growing recognition of the importance of fulfilling children’s right to play under Article 31 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child within the context of the hospital setting. Methodologically, a scoping review approach was used to review the literature, with the aim of identifying and rapidly mapping the existing evidence related to children’s fulfilment of Article 31. Scoping reviews are considered to be particularly useful when a body of literature has yet to be comprehensively covered or when the scope of the literature is not amenable to a systematic review of the evidence. In this research, a scoping review approach was chosen to summarize the research findings, including those from social media platforms, leading to the identification of gaps in the literature, which may in part, be due to limitations in the discoverability of information linked to children’s right to play in the context of hospital settings. Guidance from Peters et al. was used to conduct and structure the scoping review under 10 clearly defined points and a number of key characteristics are discussed, using two broad questions: 1) How important is play for children’s health, particularly when they are ill or have chronic health conditions? 2) How does current health service provision fulfil children’s rights to play as defined by article 31 of the UNCRC? The review identifies a consistent lack of robust empirical evidence that makes play service delivery vulnerable due to fiscal challenges. However, the use of social media platforms to elicit the rich, qualitative narrative around play provision in hospital settings highlights advocacy for play provision by play teams and those who value and use their services.
    VL  - 12
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Author Information
  • Higher Education Department, Stanmore College, Middlesex, England

  • Junior College, University of Shizuoka, Suruga-ku, Japan

  • Higher Education Department, Stanmore College, Middlesex, England

  • Higher Education Department, Stanmore College, Middlesex, England

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