Comparison of good days and sick days of school-age children with cancer reflected through their drawings

Abstract

Purpose Childhood cancer disrupts children’s daily life experiences. Eliciting children’s perspectives regarding their life experiences during cancer treatment can be challenging. The purpose of this study was to characterize elementary school-age children’s “good days” and “sick days” through their drawings. Methods This study used draw-and-tell interviews, a developmentally sensitive arts-based technique that supports children’s recall and communication of information, facilitating a deeper understanding of children’s personal interpretation and meaning of a given phenomenon of interest. Children were asked to draw pictures representing both a “good day” and a “sick day.” Following completion of each drawing, research team members used a semi-structured interview guide to elicit children’s explanations of their pictures. Content analysis techniques were used to descriptively characterize children’s drawings followed by thematic analysis to identify commonalities. Results Participants were 27 children 6.33 – 12.83 years of age (mean 9.16 years; SD=1.9) receiving treatment for cancer. “Good day” and “sick day” pictures were similar with regards to the presence of the child, the inclusion of other individuals, and the type of art medium used. Children’s pictures characterized “good days” as being happy, outside in sunny weather, and engaged in activities. In contrast, “sick days” were characterized as feeling sad, lying down or reclining, and experiencing illness-related symptoms. Conclusions Children’s drawings illustrate their capacity to provide rich personal data related to their “good days” and “sick days.” Incorporating arts-based strategies in the clinical setting may provide a child-centric strategy to understand the child’s perspective and direct interventions.

Children with ADHD draw‐and‐tell about what makes their life really good

“…The theme of activity has also been reported in two previous studies, one looking at life satisfaction in high school students (Suldo, Frank, Chappel, Albers, & Bateman, ) and the other one depicting a “good day” for pediatric cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy (Linder & Phinney, ). It is not clear whether activity makes life better and/or reflects when life is better.…”

A Study on the Spontaneous Representation of Animals in Young Children’s Drawings of Plant Life

“…Indeed, their graphical expression is closely linked to their thoughts and feelings [10,11,32] and that is the reason why studying their depictions is considered to be a valuable procedure to better understand their conceptual development [9,21,33].…”

“…In this way, children's depictions have been utilised to explore, to name some recent relevant projects, their perceptions of the environment [15]; their understanding of different topics related to plant life [16,17], and animals [18,19]; and, also, to study their comprehension of issues linked to earth sciences [13,[20][21][22], as well as health subjects [23,24].…”

Mental and Physical Health Correlates of Financial Difficulties Among African-American Older Adults in Low-Income Areas of Los Angeles

“…Sick days were treated as an interval variable, with a higher score indicating more sick days. Frequency of sick days is commonly used as a proxy for health status (63,64).…”