ABSTRACT
This study aimed to understand the play of the preschool child undergoing oncological treatment through dramatic therapeutic play. A total of five preschool age children with cancer participated in the dramatic therapeutic play sessions, between January and May 2013. The material was analyzed using the framework of phenomenology: analysis of the structure of the phenomenon in place. The following categories emerged from the sessions: Immersing oneself in the world of the disease and the oncological treatment; and Remembering the world without the disease. The study learned that becoming ill with cancer is a process which generates pain and suffering for the child, leading her to feel small and fragile in the face of the discomforts of the numerous procedures to which she is subjected. Therapeutic play was an important resource for revealing how the child with cancer feels during the treatment, and showed the children's difficulty in interacting with the unknown, and how this difficulty makes the balance between the points of health and illness complex.
Child; Cancer; Plays and toys; Pediatric nursing