Impacts of Coloring Activities on the Decrease of Fear Behavior Due to Hospitalization in Children

Abstract

Fear behavior can happen to preschool children after hospitalization. Fear behavior after hospitalization can be caused by several things such as psychological trauma caused by the invasive procedure, unfamiliar hospital environment, and unfriendly medical staff. This study aims to explain the impact of coloring activity on the decrease of fear behavior in preschool children. This study used a Quasi-Experimental Pre-test Post-test Non-Equivalent Control Group Design method. The population is preschool children hospitalized in IRNA Children room Haji General Hospital Surabaya. The sampling technique of this study is purposive sampling with 33 respondents. The independent variable is the picture coloring activity. The dependent variable is the fear behavior response on preschool children caused by hospitalization. The data were collected using a questionnaire and analyzed using Wilcoxon and Mann Whitney Test withα= 0,05 significance. The study found there is a significant decrease in fear behavior of nine preschool children after the intervention (p= 0,001), and there is not significant respond change on fear behavior of the control group (p= 0,059). This study concludes that picture coloring activity can decrease the fear behavior response of preschool children. Suggestions for further research are expected to examine other effects of coloring pictures activities such as biological responses in preschool children undergoing hospitalization and researching other factors that influence fear behavior.