GONÇALVEZ, A. N.; et. al. Memórias sobre cirurgias eletivas: o que expressam as crianças [Memories about elective surgery: what children express]. Rev. SBPH, Rio de Janeiro (RJ), v. 17, n. 1, p. 5-25, jun. 2014.
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The study aimed to investigate the children’s memories of elective surgery which they were submitted to. The access to the memories of an event like this may elucidate the factors involved in the experience of this process. The study included 20 children of both sexes, aged between 6 and 12, who were addressed at home, 15 days after hospital discharge following such surgery. The material analyzed was the stories of the children about the drawings obtained by adapting the Drawing-and-Story Procedure. The analysis method used was content analysis and developmentalist analysis of the drawings. Two broad categories were built: stay in hospital and back home. Children remember in detail what they experienced and witnessed in the hospital during the hospitalization period, and thus the memories portrayed the condition of hospitalization and surgery. Conclusion: Individual characteristics, age, anxiety, temperament, experienced pain and response to previous painful experience should be considered in the analysis of childhood memories. The attention and care of health professionals in a comprehensive and humane approach to hospitalization and surgery experience in childhood may minimize the deleterious effects on the quality of memories after surgery in childhood.