The present article intends to discuss the results of a study completed in a hospital located in the municipal district of Rio de Janeiro, considered most prominent for child, adolescent and woman's health. We analyzed the meanings of hospitalization and chronic illness in childhood and adolescence through the perspective of children and adolescents with cystic fibrosis and osteogenesis imperfecta during their hospitalizations in order to explore their experience and communicative possibilities as knowledgeable informants. Hence, we privileged the observation and the construction of their productions through games, using drawings and/or story-telling as a relevant approach to childhood and adolescence contents. The data collected signify the acquisition and knowledge production capacity of children and adolescents concerning their illness processes.
Hospitalization; Cystic fibrosis; Osteogenesis imperfecta; Child; Adolescence
