Projective Assessment of Surgery Drawings Created by Children with and without Surgery

The study aimed to perform a projective assessment of surgery drawings created by children with and without surgery. The study had a descriptive design and included 40 children aged 7-12 years and followed in pediatric surgery clinic of a hospital in Turkey. Out of 40 children, 20 had surgery and 20 did not have surgery. Both qualitative and quantitative data collection and assessment techniques were used. Data were gathered with a child descriptive characteristics form and surgery drawings. The drawings were evaluated by using projective analysis. The projective analysis of the drawings revealed three themes, i.e., fear, perceived body integrity and surgical room image. Perceived body integrity had a significant relation with having the experience of surgery (P0.05). In this study, the surgery drawings created by the children with and without the experience of surgery were examined through projective assessment and their perceptions about surgery were compared. The children undergoing surgery were found to have less fears but more negative perceptions about the body integrity and negative surgical room image.