ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Mental Health and Wellbeing in Education
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2025.1601988
This article is part of the Research TopicPsychoeducational Approaches to Mental Health for Educators and StudentsView all 19 articles
The Role of Hospital School Education in Reducing Anxiety Among Hospitalized Children
Provisionally accepted
Ana Padillo-Andicoberry1,2*
Francisco de Asís Díaz-Beato1
Encarnación Sánchez-Lissen1
Clara Romero-Pérez1- 1Faculty of Education Sciences, University of Seville, Seville, Spain
- 2Universidad Isabel I de Castilla, Burgos, Spain
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Purpose. This study aimed to evaluate state and trait anxiety levels in hospitalized children upon admission and discharge from the HS, and to examine whether curriculum-based activities and illnessrelated factors influence anxiety evolution. Design. A prospective pretest-posttest design without a control group was conducted in a hospital school setting. Sixty children aged 9 to 14 completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAIC) at admission and before discharge. An adapted Likert-based visual scale was used to assess satisfaction with educational activities. Additional variables included type of illness and treatment, length of stay, and previous hospitalizations. Findings. Children exhibited significantly higher state anxiety compared to trait anxiety upon admission (53rd vs 31st percentile; p=0.001). Previous hospitalization was a strong predictor of elevated state anxiety (p=0.008). Both trait and state anxiety significantly decreased following hospital school attendance (p=0.007; p=0.001, respectively). A longer hospital school attendance (>6 days) was associated with a greater reduction in trait anxiety (p=0.035). Positive evaluation of educational activities predicted a favorable anxiety evolution (AUC=0.815; p=0.004). Value. This study highlights the protective role of hospital school interventions in mitigating anxiety among hospitalized children. Previous admissions emerged as a significant risk factor, while high satisfaction with educational activities correlated with improved emotional outcomes. Visual satisfaction scales may serve as practical tools to identify children at risk of heightened anxiety during hospitalization.
Keywords: Hospital school, children's disease, curriculum-based activities, Well-being, State and trait anxiety
Received: 28 Mar 2025; Accepted: 28 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Padillo-Andicoberry, Díaz-Beato, Sánchez-Lissen and Romero-Pérez. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ana Padillo-Andicoberry, Faculty of Education Sciences, University of Seville, Seville, Spain
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