Comparison of Emotional and Developmental Outcomes in Children with Short vs. Prolonged Hospitalization

Abstract

Comparatively, longer hospitalizations are known to pose a greater risk of inducing negative developmental or emotional consequences on the child. In this perspective, this study aims to evaluate and compare the emotional and developmental effects on children who are hospitalized for short periods of time (7 days or less) and those who are hospitalized for long periods of time (over 21 days). In this study, one hundred children in the age range 3-12 years were evaluated using the following scales: Paediatrics Anxiety Rating Scale, Children ‘s Depression Inventory and Denver Developmental screening test. From our data, it appears that prolonged hospitalization is associated with excessive anxiety and depressive symptoms and both greater motor and language delay (p < 0.01) over control. The results of this study further emphasize the need for different types of interventions in such children to help them emotionally and developmentally.