Page 48 - IJSA, Vol. 4, No 1, 2021

International Journal of Science Annals, Vol. 4, No. 1, 2021
рrint ISSN: 2617-2682; online ISSN: 2707-3637; DOI:10.26697/ijsa

attention to the state of the art, the international field of overlapping with other professionals’ interventions like
practice, the evidence supporting the effectiveness of the educational video gaming, pet therapy, art therapy;
Play Specialist intervention, the main challenges, and the 3) Lack of recognition at a national and international
everyday issue that these professionals have to face to level hinders the integration of the Play Specialist with
gain proper integration in the national and international the hospital staff (Metzger et al., 2013). Frequently,
healthcare system. doctors and nurses may exchange Play Specialists for
This contribution presents two main elements: a literature volunteers or may improvise play activities for their
review and a small-group survey. A review of the patients without having the proper training;
literature (on a total of n=613 papers from Pubmed, 4) Lack of funds from national institutions represent
Scopus, PsycArticles) has been conducted to describe the another crucial challenge for promoting the Play
Play Specialist professionalism and the difficulties in the Specialist as no-profit private institutions often support
practice. Moreover, the core elements of the training this professionalism (Simonelli et al., 2014);
across different nations in terms of the prerequisites, the 5) Difficulties in accessing the hospitals for Play
duration of the training, the institutions promoting or Specialist during Covid-19 waves emerged. To respond
certifying the training, and the study subjects are to the global crises without letting down families and
discussed from an inclusive perspective. Thus, data from children, pioneering telematic adaptations of the Play
n=9 international experts in the field are examined to Specialist intervention have been developed (Perasso et
describe the state of the art over the Play Specialist’s al., 2020).
training. Experts offer a detailed picture of the Play Specialist
Literature offers a vast body of evidence supporting the formation at an international level. Data collected from
Play Specialist’s intervention effectiveness in fostering the nine participants to Porto dei Piccoli’s international
the hospitalized child’s wellbeing. Round Table (January 2021), reveal salient elements in
Five key elements emerged: the Play Specialist formation.
1. The Play Specialist intervention improves the child’s Across different countries, heterogeneities and
coping strategies, her/his positive emotions, and commonalities emerge:
decreases anxiety and stress that may anticipate medical - the prerequisite of the training (e.g., a bachelor’s degree
procedures (Gill, 2010; Ullan & Belver, 2019). in psychology or pedagogy) is required all over the
2. Children require less sedation for pain management: world;
with the Play Specialist intervention, the child is more - the duration of the formation varies from courses of 200
capable of pain management at a behavioral, physical, hours to courses of 760 hours;
cognitive, and complementary level (Bandstra et al., - considering the subjects of the Play Specialists’ study,
2008). the countries’ referents agree about offering formation on
3. The child is more adherent to the medical treatment: the child developmental milestones on a pediatric,
since play intervention decreases negative emotions (e.g., psychological, pedagogical level, play-techniques,
anxiety, stress, externalizing behaviors) the child is more family psychology, attachment psychology;
collaborative towards medical staff (Gill, 2010). Once - as regards achieving a certification at the end of the
achieved through medical play a major knowledge over training, a few countries still struggle to obtain
her/his health and the healing process, the child institutional recognition for Play Specialists and proper
experiences less power imbalance from the adults taking certification procedures. In fact, institutional certification
care of her/him (e.g., family members, medical staff) is fundamental in providing evidence-based interventions
(Bricher, 2000). and obtaining acknowledgment in the hospital context.
4. Play can be crucial in palliative care: through targeted The Play Specialist’s professionalism is essential to
play activities the Play Specialist can help the child to advocate children’s right to play in the hospital context
face and elaborate emotions connected to end-of-life and to promote her/his wellbeing by fostering coping,
concepts (Lindqvist, 1974). treatment adherence, and counteracting negative
5. Time and economic savings for the hospitals: as emotions. Still, cross-countries differences at an
supported by Metzger et al. (2013), the Play Specialist educational and institutional recognition level hinder the
enhances patients’ compliance, requiring less anesthesia possibility to integrate the Play Specialists in national and
for invasive medical procedures. This aspect is important international healthcare systems. For the future, the
to spare sedation costs to the hospital, and also to spare exchange of best practice and research evidence among
children from anesthesia and its potential collateral no-profit organizations, and public and private healthcare
effects. stakeholders is vividly recommended to build a common
Literature depicts the main challenges that the Play ground and finally overcome fragmentation.
Specialists have to face all over the world.
Five main domains emerge: References
1) Lack of standardized methods and measures to support Bandstra, N. F., Skinner, L., Leblanc, C.,
the practice (Goh et al., 2019) has hindered for a very Chambers, C. T., Hollon, E. C., Brennan, D., &
long-time the possibility to create a common ground; Beaver, C. (2008). The role of child life in
2) Practice fragmentation across different countries arise pediatric pain management: A survey of child life
problems in the practice as the core activities are often specialists. The Journal of Pain, 9(4), 320–329.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpain.2007.11.004

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