Play Interventions to Reduce Anxiety and Negative Emotions in Hospitalized Children

participants received around 30 minutes of hospital play interventions each day, conducted by hospital play specialists. Such interventions consisted of structured and non-structured activities. All these activities were given at the patients' bedside, with or without parental supervision, either once or spreading over an hour, depending on the ward routine.

Children received standard medical and nursing care, such as vital signs observation, pharmacological treatment and wound and pain management as a control treatment