Intro to Child Life Study Guide
What is Child Life? -
-focuses no the psychosocial aspect of hospitalization
-play and other forms of communication become tools to help reduce stress and enable
patients
-interventions are targeted to express childhood reactions to healthcare events
What are the Certified Child Life Specialists Professional Standards of Practice -
-the minimum degree of a Bachelors w/ specific work in human growth and
development, family studies, psychology, and related fields or Masters degree in those fields.
(by 2020 newly CCLS will be required to hold a Masters degree)
-Minimum of 480 hour internship
-Certification examination
-Professional development hours to maintain certificate
-Adherence to the code of ethics and standards established by the Child Life Council
Where do CL specialists work? -
w/ healthcare team, school, hospital. camp programs, and hospice
What services does CL provide? -
-Non-medical preparation for tests, surgeries, and other medical procedures
-Support during medical procedures
-Therapeutic medical play w/ dolls and medical equipment
-Developmental assesments (birth-6yrs)
-Grief support
-Sibling support
-Activities group, 1:1, and bedside
-Coordinating volunteers and special events
-promoting family-center care
Child Life Goals: -
-play and other forms of communication become tools to help reduce stress and
enable patients and families in coping w/ healthcare experience
-focuses on the psychosocial aspect of hospitalization
-interventions targeted to express childhood reactions to healthcare events
What are the recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics Statement on CL
services: -
-child life services should be delievered as part of integrated patient and family-
center care
-services should be provided by CCLS in pediatric inpatient units, emergency debts, clinics,
and other treatment areas
-CCLS to patient ratios should be adjusted as needed for patients served, psychosocial and
developmental vulnerability and medical complexity
-CL services should be included in the hospital operating budget as an "essential part of
hospital-based pediatric care"
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, CL history: -
-found, Emma Plank "play lady"
-1950s/1960s first CL programs
(Emma Planks in Cleveland & Mary Brooks in Phidelphia)
-Association for the care of child in hospitals (1967)
-From there the CL council was founded in 1982 to establish more guidelines from
professionalism and programming
-1920s/1930s early hospital play programs
Why is play important? -
-play is the work of childhood
-play provides more positive healthcare experience and normalization of the environment
-Group activities allow for social interaction, self-expression, and provide opportunities for
patients to have control over their own environment in a non-threatening way
Childhood Cancer information: -
-1 in 30 Americans develop cancer before the age of 20
-on average, 36 children are diagnosed w/ cancer everyday in the US
-cancer is the leading cause of death by disease in children under the age of 15 in the US
-childhood cancer research is vastly and consistently underfunded
AAP Statement on CL: -
-CL services should be considered an essential component of quality pediatric
healthcare and are integral to family-centered care and best practice models of healthcare
delievery for children
Why child life? -
-child life interventions resulted in: less emotional distress, better overall coping,
clearer understanding of procedures, positive physical recovery, better post hospital
adjustment
CL Staff recommendations: -
-ratio 1 full time CCLS to 15 inpatients
-should be available to meet with family needs 7 days a week
-inpatient and outpatient areas
-emergency room, day of surgery, rehab
-services for children of adult patients
Interdisciplinary Collaboration: -
-interdisciplinary team
-acknowledge the roles and expertise of other healthcare professionals
-share info, observations, and assessments
-be receptive to observations by other team members
-provide in-services for hospital staff
-recognize professional limits and boundaries of CL
Play and Normalcy: -
-play is where the child life story began
-play is the modality of a child life program bc it is familiar and reassuring to children
2|Page
What is Child Life? -
-focuses no the psychosocial aspect of hospitalization
-play and other forms of communication become tools to help reduce stress and enable
patients
-interventions are targeted to express childhood reactions to healthcare events
What are the Certified Child Life Specialists Professional Standards of Practice -
-the minimum degree of a Bachelors w/ specific work in human growth and
development, family studies, psychology, and related fields or Masters degree in those fields.
(by 2020 newly CCLS will be required to hold a Masters degree)
-Minimum of 480 hour internship
-Certification examination
-Professional development hours to maintain certificate
-Adherence to the code of ethics and standards established by the Child Life Council
Where do CL specialists work? -
w/ healthcare team, school, hospital. camp programs, and hospice
What services does CL provide? -
-Non-medical preparation for tests, surgeries, and other medical procedures
-Support during medical procedures
-Therapeutic medical play w/ dolls and medical equipment
-Developmental assesments (birth-6yrs)
-Grief support
-Sibling support
-Activities group, 1:1, and bedside
-Coordinating volunteers and special events
-promoting family-center care
Child Life Goals: -
-play and other forms of communication become tools to help reduce stress and
enable patients and families in coping w/ healthcare experience
-focuses on the psychosocial aspect of hospitalization
-interventions targeted to express childhood reactions to healthcare events
What are the recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics Statement on CL
services: -
-child life services should be delievered as part of integrated patient and family-
center care
-services should be provided by CCLS in pediatric inpatient units, emergency debts, clinics,
and other treatment areas
-CCLS to patient ratios should be adjusted as needed for patients served, psychosocial and
developmental vulnerability and medical complexity
-CL services should be included in the hospital operating budget as an "essential part of
hospital-based pediatric care"
1|Page
, CL history: -
-found, Emma Plank "play lady"
-1950s/1960s first CL programs
(Emma Planks in Cleveland & Mary Brooks in Phidelphia)
-Association for the care of child in hospitals (1967)
-From there the CL council was founded in 1982 to establish more guidelines from
professionalism and programming
-1920s/1930s early hospital play programs
Why is play important? -
-play is the work of childhood
-play provides more positive healthcare experience and normalization of the environment
-Group activities allow for social interaction, self-expression, and provide opportunities for
patients to have control over their own environment in a non-threatening way
Childhood Cancer information: -
-1 in 30 Americans develop cancer before the age of 20
-on average, 36 children are diagnosed w/ cancer everyday in the US
-cancer is the leading cause of death by disease in children under the age of 15 in the US
-childhood cancer research is vastly and consistently underfunded
AAP Statement on CL: -
-CL services should be considered an essential component of quality pediatric
healthcare and are integral to family-centered care and best practice models of healthcare
delievery for children
Why child life? -
-child life interventions resulted in: less emotional distress, better overall coping,
clearer understanding of procedures, positive physical recovery, better post hospital
adjustment
CL Staff recommendations: -
-ratio 1 full time CCLS to 15 inpatients
-should be available to meet with family needs 7 days a week
-inpatient and outpatient areas
-emergency room, day of surgery, rehab
-services for children of adult patients
Interdisciplinary Collaboration: -
-interdisciplinary team
-acknowledge the roles and expertise of other healthcare professionals
-share info, observations, and assessments
-be receptive to observations by other team members
-provide in-services for hospital staff
-recognize professional limits and boundaries of CL
Play and Normalcy: -
-play is where the child life story began
-play is the modality of a child life program bc it is familiar and reassuring to children
2|Page
