Magic as a therapeutic intervention to promote coping in hospitalized pediatric patients.

Magic as a therapeutic intervention is used in an innovative, hospital-based program to address the psychosocial issues children and adolescents often experience as a result of illness and hospitalization. A child life specialist and a magician with an MBA collaborated, blending clinical expertise with business acumen and professional-level magic skills to create the program. The program has two distinct components: (1) magicians using interactive, close-up magic and humor as a technique to promote socialization, enhance self-esteem, and increase opportunities for choice and control, and (2) magicians providing the personal instruction and materials that enable chronically ill and long-term patients to learn and perform magic to promote a sense of empowerment and feelings of mastery.

Pediatric art preferences: countering the "one-size-fits-all" approach.

Objective: To determine the stated art preferences of pediatric patients through an art survey and determine whether preferences vary, with different age groups associated with different stages of cognitive development.

Background: Exposure to visual art has been shown to have an impact on improved health and satisfaction outcomes. However, there is little literature on the effect of art on pediatric patients.