Korean J Child Health Nurs.  2000 Feb;6(1):69-77.

The Effectiveness of Token economy on Oral Medication for Discharged Children

• Kim IO

Abstract

Oral medication is the most frequent treatment measure for follow up treatment, which is leading by childrens' parents for them. In medication for preoperational children, they tend to concentrate the result rather than the motivation or cause. So, they frequently refuse medication which has bitter taste. So this study was attempted to develop token economy program which promote children's medication and help their parents, and to evaluate its' effect to construct the experimental ground. This study was a quasi experimental study under the nonequivalent control group posttest only design. The subjects of this study were 36 children who were aged 3-6 years and admitted pediatric ward because of their respiratory disease. Token economy program was consisted of cartoon record paper with stickers which expresses the better medication is taken the more germs die, and gift was given for back up reinforcer. To evaluate this program, time for oral medication was measured to both experimental group and control group. To determine the effect of the program, the data were analyzed by the SAS 6.12 program with t-test. The results of this study were as follows: 1. Between experimental group and control group, there was no significant difference (t=-1.2411, P=0.2374). Therefore, the hypothesis of this study was rejected. In conclusion, the token economy program for follow up care didn't change the children's behavior of oral medication. But it was found that the cartoon on recording paper gave a pleasure to participated children. Parents who were in experimental group expressed their appreciation for token economy program. So it can be said that the token economy program for follow up care was effective in inducing the children's pleasure and parents' satisfaction even though it wasn't successful in experiment. If the measuring tools for token economy program was made with well planned design and high reliability, it can be improved the effectiveness of that To develope the theoretical bases of nursing care, the well planned programs and measuring tools for them should be developed.

MeSH Terms

Child*
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Motivation
Nursing Care
Parents
Pleasure
Token Economy*
Child Health