Original scientific paper

The possibilities of recognizing fear by the analysis of children’s drawings

Ljubica Vranić-Stavljenić ; Siget Primary Health Care Center, Zagreb, Croatia
Nada Anić ; Center of Mental Health and School of Education, Rijeka
Zdravko Rajić ; School of Dentistry, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Ljubiša Bastajić ; Dr Ozren Novosel Clinical Hospital, Zagreb, Croatia

Abstract

The analysis of the contents of 690 children’s drawings of the dentist’s office was carried out with the aim of determining the presence of »fear-inducing« and »encouraging« elements in these drawings. The results showed that only 9% of children drew encouraging elements like flowers, pictures, decorations, etc. The presence of fear-inducing elements appea­red to depend on: 1) children’s previous experience; 2) children’s age; 3) how the topic had been presented to chidren; and 4) what elements did actually exist in the dentist’s office.

Keywords

Children’s drawings; fear; dentist

Hrčak ID:

102630

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/102630

Publication date:

15.6.1988.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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