PENGARUH TERAPI EXPRESSIVE WRITING TERHADAP KECEMASAN PADA ANAK USIA SEKOLAH YANG MENJALANI HOSPITALISASI

Abstract

          Hospitalization is the main cause of children experiencing anxiety. The impact of hospitalization on children is very diverse, hospitalization makes children feel unfamiliar with a new environment, changing their usual lifestyle. This emotional response or anxiety can be overcome with expressive writing therapy. Regular and regular expressive writing therapy can reduce the impact of hospitalization or anxiety. This research aims to determine the effect of expressive writing therapy on anxiety in school-aged children undergoing hospitalization at UPTDK. RSU. Medan Hajj, North Sumatra Provincial Government. The type of research is pre-experimental design with a One Group Pre Test - Post Test approach. The study population was pediatric patients undergoing hospitalization. The sampling technique used was non-probability sampling with accidental sampling technique, the number of samples studied was 24 children. The research instrument used SOP Expressive Writing and the Anxiety instrument with HARS. Data analysis used the Wilcoxon test. The research results showed that children's anxiety before expressive writing therapy was moderate anxiety at 45.8%, after expressive writing therapy children's anxiety became mild anxiety at 45.8%. The statistical test results show that the pvalue is 0.004 < α (0.05), so it is stated that the research hypothesis is accepted.The research conclusion shows that there is an influence of Expressive Writing Therapy on Anxiety in School-Age Children Undergoing Hospitalization at UPTDK. RSU. Haji Medan, North Sumatra Provincial Government in 2024. It is hoped that health workers can apply Expressive Writing Therapy as an alternative non-pharmacological therapy in reducing anxiety in hospitalized children.

Keywords: Expressive_writing; Anxiety; Hospitalization; Children