Theatre for Children in Hospital - The Gift of Compassion

Recent decades have seen a new appreciation develop for applied theatre and the role of arts-based activities in health care. This book looks specifically at the place of theatre for children who are hospitalized, showing how powerfully it can enhance their social and mental well-being. Child-led performances, for example, can be used as a technique to distract young patients from hospitalization, prepare them for painful procedures, and teach them calming techniques to control their own pre- or post-operative stress. Persephone Sextou details the key theoretical contexts and practical features of theatre for children, in the process offering motivation, guidance and inspiration for practitioners who want to incorporate performance into their treatment regimen.

About the author

Persephone Sextou is professor in performing arts (applied theatre for health and wellbeing) at Leeds Beckett University in England, and a visiting professor at the University of New South Wales Sydney in Australia. She is an expert member of academic networks in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. Her research raises fundamental questions about immersive intimate bedside theatre combined with pedagogical frameworks, storytelling, puppetry and digital arts (VR), and their impact on the mental wellbeing of hospitalized children and young people with serious conditions. Persephone is the author of Theatre for Children in Hospital: The Gift of Compassion (Intellect, 2016) and Applied Theatre in Paediatrics: Children, Stories and Synergies of Emotions (Routledge, 2023).

Product details

• Authors: Persephone Sextou, Persephone (Birmingham Newman University Sextou, Persephone (Newman University Sextou, Persephone (Newman University Birmingham) Sextou
• Publisher: Ingram Publishers Services
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.12.2016
• EAN: 9781783206452
• ISBN: 978-1-78320-645-2
• Dimensions: 178 mm x 229 mm x 10 mm
• Weight: 318 g
• Subjects: Fiction > Poetry, drama; Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Medicine > Clinical medicine; MEDICAL / Pediatrics, MEDICAL / Allied Health Services / Occupational Therapy, Creative therapy (eg art, music, drama), Paediatric medicine, Creative therapy / Expressive therapies