Using a Short Video Animation to Assist with the Diagnosis of Sleep Disorders in Young Children

摘要

A short video animation is designed to mitigate the fears of children admitted to hospital for the diagnosis of their sleep disorders. The video animation was produced following recommendations from medical staff involved in the diagnosis. Images taken from the animation decorated the hospital ward, to bring the video characters to life in the children's minds. Finally, standard diagnosis of sleep disorders was performed by means of polysomnography on two groups of children: a reference and an evaluation group. Both parents and children responded to questionnaires that measured their satisfaction and the perception of their experiences. Preliminary findings extracted from the polysomnography showed that the videos helped to relax nervous children, especially sensitive to the hospital environment, and shortened Sleep Onset Latency and Non-REM latency. Besides, the responses to the questionnaires suggested that the video also reassured the parents whose moods helped the children to accept their hospitalization.