From pretending to reality: implementation of the therapeutic toy between hospitalized children

Playing for the child is the most important activity of his life. However, when the child becomes a patient in hospital treatment everything that is part of his daily life is transformed. The Therapeutic Toy is a way to mitigate the impacts caused by the hospitalization. The objective of this study was to evaluate the behavior of hospitalized children when they underwent nursing procedures after the therapeutic toy was applied. This is a qualitative descriptive approach. The sample consisted of 08 subjects and it was carried out between July and August of 2017 at the Infantile Municipal Hospital of Imperatriz. The parents were clarified about the research and authorized the participation of their children. The children were submitted to therapeutic toy application before nursing procedures and after they were interviewed for data collection. The subjects´ ages ranged from 7 to 11 years old, where 3 lived in Imperatriz and 5 were from other locations, were submitted to orthopedic procedures, and through the analysis of the dialogues, it was possible to identify three thematic categories: Behavioral alterations antecedent to the procedures, perception of the learning provided by the therapeutic instructional toy and effectiveness of its applicability. It is concluded that the use of the toy is an excellent resource for nursing in the care of hospitalized children.