Article
Children's Drawings as Facilitators of Communication: A Meta-Analysis

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In an attempt to explore new methods for accessing children's voices, this meta-analysis explores the facilitative effects of offering children the opportunity to draw as an interview strategy as compared with a traditional directed interview. Based on this analysis, introducing the opportunity to draw appears to be a relatively robust interview strategy with a large overall effect size (d = .95). Both research and clinical implications are discussed.

Section snippets

Background

In recent years, a call has been issued to hear the voices of those individuals who have been and continue to be marginalized, disenfranchised, and socially silenced within society and health care. These individuals have been identified as socially vulnerable and have become the primary focus in health disparities research. Among these socially vulnerable individuals are ethnic minorities, women, the elderly, those who are homeless, live in rural areas or in poverty, and children. This study

Method

A good systematic review is based on a clearly formulated research question that identifies (1) the type of person involved, (2) the type of exposure (e.g., risk factor, intervention) that the person experiences, (3) the type of control with which the exposure is being compared, and (4) the outcome(s) to be addressed (Counsell, 1997). Such a question guides the review, defining which studies will be included, what the search strategy should be, and which data need to be extracted from the

Discussion

The use of children's drawings for assessment in both research and clinical practice has a long tradition in the fields of psychiatry, psychology, and education (Buck, 1981, Burns, 1970, DiLeo, 1970, DiLeo, 1974, Goodenough, 1926, Goodenough, 1928, Harris, 1963, Kellogg, 1969, Koppitz, 1968, Machover, 1980). Drawings have given form and meaning to puzzling, scary, and both familiar and unfamiliar things children encounter at home, in school, on the street, through the media, in books, and

Clinical Implications for Health-Care Providers

In his book, Peace, Love, and Hope, Dr. Bernie Siegel (1990) suggests that all health-care providers add a box of crayons to their list of diagnostic and therapeutic tools. From his clinical experiences with cancer patients of all ages, he observed that drawing was an easy and reliable way to help people open up and talk about feelings or experiences they might not otherwise share. Furthermore, Clements, Benasutti, and Henry (2001) state that drawing is naturally an activity children use to

Summary

The moral mandate of nursing is to illuminate the experiences of those marginalized and silenced within society and health care. This clearly includes children. Offering children the opportunity to draw appears to be a potentially exciting way of engaging and involving children as active participants. The simple act of drawing may provide a series of cues that guide a child through an event, simultaneously enhancing retrieval and communication by extending the child's memory search and

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