Abstract
Objective:
to understand, by means of dramatic therapeutic play, the meaning, for the sibling, of visiting the child hospitalized in intensive care.
Method:
a qualitative research, phenomenological modality, which used the dramatic therapeutic play to access the siblings' experiences. It was carried out in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit in the countryside of the State of São Paulo, Brazil. Eleven siblings under ten years of age participated in the therapeutic play sessions, which were analyzed in the light of the Theory of Maturation.
Results:
the siblings, having a place to play, dramatized previously lived situations, from their daily life and from the visit to the hospitalized child. By living creatively, they revealed that playing is to integrate the experiences of the “I”, favoring the continuity of being in the face of the situation lived.
Conclusions and implications for practice:
the Dramatic Therapeutic Play understood in the light of a theoretical framework allowed the sibling to mean the visit as an experience of integration of the “I”, revealing emotions, desires and preferences of daily life. In this sense, the care for the brother of the hospitalized child is defined by the offer of free play, so that he demonstrates the feeling of continuing to be in his interactions with the world, in which the hospital context has become part of reality.
Keywords:
Pediatric Nursing; Siblings; Play and Playthings; Intensive Care Units, Pediatric; Visitors to Patients