Funded Projects

Poetry for Hospitalized Pediatric Patients

Project Year

2023

City & State

New Haven, Connecticut

Program Name

CATCH Resident

Topic

Literacy

Program Description

The Problem: The hospital can be an unfamiliar environment for children. Illness can pull them out of school, keep them away from family and friends, and disrupt their sense of normalcy. Being hospitalized can also induce or exacerbate emotional and behavioral challenges. Pediatric patients may experience anxiety, stress, and a sense of helplessness from a multitude of factors including a lack of control over their environment, an influx of unfamiliar faces, and painful procedures or treatments. Children who experience economic hardship may be more likely to experience these challenges. For example, access to emotional/mental health resources is limited, and having a caregiver present at the bedside is not always possible. The Primary Setting: The main project site will be the Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital pediatric inpatient unit. Number of Children Affected: I plan to have at least 50 participants in the poetry and creative writing project. Project Goal: My project will serve to support hospitalized pediatric patients’ mental and emotional health through a creative writing and poetry program. Specifically, the project will work to reduce symptom burden such as anxiety, fatigue, worry, and stress for these patients by supporting their mental and emotional wellbeing through writing activities. The project will be based on an extensive body of literature which supports the use of creative arts in healthcare settings to address emotional challenges. Proposed Intervention: The program will have two different components. (1) Reading: I will compile a collection of poems and create booklets, grouped by age/reading-level. The poems will be taken from a wide range of sources, from beloved classics (e.g. Shel Silverstein’s Where the Sidewalk Ends) to the whimsical and imaginative, the reflective and intellectually stimulating. The array of styles will allow for individual preferences. (2) Writing: I will create poetry writing kits, grouped by age/reading-level. These kits will include writing exercises with prompts; rhyming and word-play activities; and pictures (of nature, animals, colors) to spark creative thinking. Plenty of colorful paper, pens/markers, and stationery materials will be provided. Here is a sampling of writing exercises: “Describe to me your favorite meal - the sights, smells, textures”; “What do you think are your best strengths?”; “What is your favorite thing to do on Saturdays?”; “Tell me a fun fact about you or a hidden talent you have”. Prompts will allow for self-expression, with patients revealing as much or as little as they choose. There will also be rhyming and word-play activities that will involve fill-in-the-blank ‘mad lib poetry’ sheets; taking one word and coming up with as many words that rhyme; using their first name and making an acrostic poem of their traits; letter tiles for creating poetry in a tactile nature. Based on participants’ interests, we will also offer them the opportunity to engage in different styles of poetry, including haikus, odes and sonnets; erasure/blackout poetry (removing words from an existing text to create a new piece), and concrete poetry (also known as visual poetry - words outlining the shape of an object such as a tree). Participants can keep the pieces they create or have the option to share them on an exhibit wall in the hospital. Anticipated Outcomes: The program will support and improve hospitalized pediatric patients’ emotional and mental wellbeing with a particular focus in families who experience economic hardship. Anticipated outcomes will include creation of poetry kits, reduced symptom burden among participants, increased expression of creativity, a space for children and adolescents to engage their minds and enhance their literacy skills, a place to connect with other families and patients, and a sustainable poetry program for the children’s hospital.

Project Goal

The poetry program will enhance pediatric patients’ emotional and mental wellbeing during hospitalization.

Project Objective 1

By one month into the CATCH grant year, in collaboration with the community partner New Haven Reads and the Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital, I will have created a poetry curriculum and physical poetry kits for the program.

Project Objective 2

By two months into the CATCH grant year, the poetry program will have started its first session and would continue with at least bimonthly sessions in the pediatric unit of the Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital.

Project Objective 3

By the end of one year, the poetry program will have enhanced at least fifty pediatric patients’ emotional and mental wellbeing during hospitalization by decreasing measures such as anxiety and stress.

AAP District

District I

Institutional Name

Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital

Contact 1

Anna Delamerced