Play of children and adolescents in foster care institutions in a city in southern Brazil

Abstract

This study aimed to identify the manifestation of play of children and adolescents from the perspective of professionals from foster care institutions in a city in southern Brazil. It is characterized as a field study, descriptive and exploratory, with a qualitative approach to analysis. Ten employees from three foster care institutions participated in semi-structured interviews. Collected data were organized using NVivo 13 software and analyzed using Bardin’s content analysis technique. The results were grouped, presented, and discussed in two categories: “Manifestation of play of institutionalized children and adolescents” and “The influence of previous experiences on the manifestation of play.” From these categories, it was possible to identify that playing is an essential action in foster care institutions, serving as a way of re-signification of experiences and affirmation of children and adolescents as beings worthy of a full childhood and adolescence.

Keywords:

• Children’s rights
• leisure
• home
• childhood
• playing

Ethical approval

This study was approved on June 30, 2020, by the Ethics Committee of the Santa Catarina State University (n° 4,124,859), following the ethical precepts of Resolution 510/16 of the National Health Council on research with human beings.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Foundation for the Support of Research and Innovation of the State of Santa Catarina (FAPESC), through the granting of a scholarship to Luiz, and by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES), through the granting of scholarship to Franzoni, Martins, and Cunha.