Does the 'Teddy Bear Hospital' enhance preschool children's knowledge? A pilot study with a pre/post-case control design in Germany. (October 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Leonhardt, Corinna; Margraf-Stiksrud, Jutta; Badners, Larissa; Szerencsi, Andrea; Maier, Rolf F
• Is Part Of: Journal of health psychology. Volume 19:Number 10(2014:Oct.)
• Page Start: 1250
• Page End: 1260
• Publication Date: 2014-10
• Subjects: Germany -- health education -- health promotion -- preschool child -- 'Teddy Bear Hospital'; Clinical health psychology -- Periodicals; 613.019
• DOI: 10.1177/1359105313488975
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1359-1053

Abstract

The 'Teddy Bear Hospital' is a medical students' project, which has been increasingly established in many countries. To evaluate this concept, we examined the effects of a German Teddy Bear Hospital on children's knowledge relating to their body, health and disease. Using a quasi-experimental pre/post design, we examined 131 preschool children from 14 German kindergartens with pictorial interview-based scales. The analysis of covariance revealed that the children who visited the Teddy Bear Hospital had a significantly better knowledge concerning their body, health and disease than the children from the control group. This German Teddy Bear Hospital is a good health education vehicle for preschool children.