Korean J Child Health Nurs.  1999 Oct;5(3):318-328.

A Study of the Effectiveness of Token Economy on Children's Behaviors for Oral Medication

• Lee JH
• Kim IO

Abstract

Oral medication is one of the most frequent treatment in clinical care, and frequently refused by children. Children's refusal spends unuseful time and require nurses' patience. So this study was attempted to develop token economy program which promote children's medication, and to evaluate its' effect to construct the experimental ground. This study was a quasi experimental study under the nonequivalent control group non-synchronized design. The subjects of this study were 48 children who were aged 3-12 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 spent for oral medication was measured six time to both experimental group and control group, and measured the perceived effectiveness of this program by nurses. To determine the effect of the program, the data were analyzed by the SAS 6.12 program with t-test and mean, standard deviation. The results of this study were as follows: 1. In experimental group, time spent for oral medication was significantly shorter than in control group(t=5.24, p=0.0001). Therefore, the hypothesis of this study was strongly accepted. 2. Nurses perceived this program as an effective one(mean=3.125 ~ 3.792). The effectiveness occurred before, during and after medication as well as in parental responses, especially in using verbal dissatisfaction after medication. In conclusion, it was found that the token economy program for admitted children was effective in inducing the children's behavior of oral medication. There was no effectiveness in very highly anxious children. Whereas, it is recommended that this program should not be used for such children until they settle down. If the token economy program was made in various situation with creative thinking, it will be very useful nursing measurement, especially in caring for children. To improve the quality of nursing care, the various programs, which can give joyfulness to stressed patients should be developed.

MeSH Terms

Child
Disulfiram
Humans
Nursing
Nursing Care
Parents
Thinking
Token Economy*
Child Health
Disulfiram