A PLAY PROGRAM AND ITS FUNCTION IN A PEDIATRIC HOSPITAL

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Abstract
The Boston Floating Hospital created a Play Program as part of the mental health activities in the service of a comprehensive approach to pediatrics. The organization and the functioning of the program are described in detail and the necessity of good communication and co-operation among the different groups in the hospital is emphasized. Some of the observed reactions of the patients and their families to various phases of the program are recorded and illustrated by short case histories. The feeling is expressed that the non-directive technique of the playroom teachers and the wide range of choice in play activities offered to the children helps them in gradually mastering anxiety over the illness, procedures, restrictions and the separation from the parents. It is pointed out that the "play group" is an integral part of the broadly organized Child Psychiatry Unit of the Boston Floating Hospital.

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