assistive technology for the promotion of activity of daily living with children in hospital contexts

The purpose of this research was to characterize the routine of a pediatric nursing ward in relation tothe performance of their users on the Activity of Daily Living - ADL: personal hygiene, bathing and feeding, aswell as point out the possible uses of assistive technology concerning the ADL performance. The participants werethe following; 10 members of a nursing team, 12 caretakers and their hospitalized children with ages betweensix and twelve. The characterization of the pediatric nursing was made through semi-structured interviews andobservation developed by the researchers. Results showed that 100% (n = 10) of professionals, members ofthe nursing staff, reported performing guidance and/or supervision and/or performance of the following ADL:personal hygiene, bathing and feeding of children under their responsibility. Children remained in hospital fromthree to forty-five days and 75% (n = 9) of them reported ADL dependence in personal care, 83.3% (n = 10)in the bathing activity and 16.6 % (n = 2) in the feeding activity. Children also reported that they were helpedwith personal care, bathing and feeding by their caretakers. Caretakers identified differences in the performanceof the children’s personal hygiene (41.6%, n = 5), bathing (66.6%, n = 8) and feeding (50%, n = 6) activities.Except for slight differences in the reports of the children, parents reported similar data and the bathing activitypresented the highest level of assistance. Recommendations on the use of technology in hospital contexts wereelaborated based on these results.