29:T4dd,

The aim of this study was to revise and organize according to recall time based criteria, questionnaires created and validated to assess the level of physical activity in children and adolescents, with the intention of enabling their proper understanding and subsequent use by nurses and health care professionals. In order to determine the questionnaires’ quality, their degree of reliability and validity was the main feature to be taken into account. Thirty-eight papers were retrieved and analyzed, 31 of which were aimed at designing and validating a questionnaire intended for physical activity (PA) level assessment in youth populations (four to 19 year olds). The most widely used questionnaires were those whose recall time spans from one to seven days. In general, all questionnaires were characterized by the use of pen-and-paper format and scarce utilization of new technologies.

Based upon validity and reliability criteria, in order to assess PA level in children and adolescents, nurses should use the “Children’s Leisure Activities Study Survey” and the “Flemish Physical Activity Computer Questionnaire”, respectively. There is a need for the validation of these tools in other languages and cultures.

2a:T40b,

This article reports an explorative study which aims to investigate hospitalized children’s views of their relationships with nurses and doctors. Twenty-seven school-aged children and adolescents from 6 to 15 years old in the paediatric haematology and oncology ward of an Italian hospital participated in the study. Each participant was asked to draw him or herself with a doctor or nurse from the ward while they were doing something. The drawings were analysed using Pictorial Assessment of Interpersonal Relationships (PAIR) and a qualitative analysis. The results showed that the participants viewed their relationships with health professionals positively, in particular with the nurses. This relationship was perceived as close, intimate, cohesive and without conflict. In some cases it became an emotional bond. Finally, this relationship helped the patients to cope with painful and uncomfortable medical procedures, which gradually became familiar and accepted. The clinical implications of this study are discussed.

2b:T422,

This study aims to describe nurses’ knowledge of and attitudes towards the management of fever in one children’s hospital in Ireland. A descriptive, quantitative research design was employed. One hundred and nineteen nurses working in one children’s hospital completed a self-report questionnaire. Nurses’ mean knowledge score about the physiology of fever, fever management and antipyretics was 51 per cent (n = 119), which was lower than expected. Nurses had both appropriate and inappropriate attitudes towards fever and fever management. Inconsistent attitudes between nurses were identified. Nurses who participated in this study are not expert managers of fever. Their lack of knowledge and inconsistent attitudes are affecting the care of febrile children, and may be fuelling parents’ fever phobia. Further education is required to improve nurses’ knowledge of fever and fever management. Inappropriate attitudes need to be challenged and addressed in an effort to promote evidence-based care for febrile children.

2c:T785,