아동의 건강 및 질병개념 발달에 관한 탐색적 연구 = An Exploratory Study on the Development of Children's Concepts of Health and Illness

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This study examined the development of children's concepts of health and illness based on Piaget's cognitive developmental theory of children.
Conceptions of health and illness of 72 children aged 3 to 12 were explored by interview, using interview guide developed by Bibace and Walsh. Six developmentally ordered categories of explanation of illness were utilized for data analysis.
The results were as follows:
The types of explanation of illness varied as a function of the developmental status of the subjects. Among preschool chidren, 79.2% gave the prelogical explanations including phenomenism and contagion. Among 7 year olds, 45.8% gave contamination explanations and 29.2% internalization explanations. Among 11 to 12 year olds explanations were classified as 58.3% internalization and 12.5% physiologic.
The answers to the question "What does it mean to be healthy?" showed qualitative and quantitative changes with age. Among preschool children, "Strong body"(20.8%) and "Eating well"(12.5%)were the mostly mentioned categories. Among 7 year olds, "Not being sick" (41.7%) and "Strong body"(37.5%) were the mostly mentioned categories. Among 11 to 12 year olds, "Strong body" (41,7%) and "not being sick" (33.3%) were the mostly mentioned categories And, mental health was considered a part of health by 16.7 % of this age group children.
When children were asked about specific illnesses, knowledge varied with the illness, Children were knowledgeable about headache and heart attack but knew little about cancer and measles.