Tom Thumb in hospital: The fairy tale workshop in a paediatric oncology and haematology ward

Abstract

The project ‘A fairy tale workshop in a paediatric oncology ward’ is part of a more complex intervention that aims to support children, parents and professionals of a Paediatric Oncology Ward. The ill child is often unable to express his anxieties and to ask for explanations about the situation that he is experiencing. Through the ‘Fairy tale’, children were offered the opportunity to get in touch safely with danger and death anxieties through the use of displacement and identification mechanisms. The technique used was the tale-telling methodology developed by the French psychoanalyst Pierre Lafforgue, adapted for use in a hospital environment. Staff consisted of two child psychoanalytic psychotherapists, four psychologists attending psychodynamic training, and a storyteller. We describe how children have used the workshop and the effects of this experience on parents and nurses.

Keywords:

• fairy tale
• paediatric oncology ward
• symbolization
• displacement
• identification mechanisms

Acknowledgements

This project was carried out jointly by the Department of Neuroscience, Sector of Child and Adolescent Psychopathology and by the Department of Paediatrics, Sector of Paediatric Onco-haematology of the Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria ‘Federico II’, Naples. The project was realized thanks to funds provided by the Fondazione Banco Napoli per l'Assistenza all'Infanzia.

The authors wish to thank Dr A. Fiorillo, Dr R. Migliorati, the ward sisters and the nurses of the ward for the support offered to us in the realization of this work.

Notes

1. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Sixth Conference ‘Play and power’ of EFPP, Copenhagen, in May 2007 and it has been published in the Italian review ‘Psichiatria dell'Infanzia e dell'Adolescenza’, Borla, Roma, no. 2, 2007.

2. The fairy tale workshop is a methodology that is also used by members of the Associazione Lupus in Fabula in other contexts such as rehabilitation and the training of nursery school and kindergarten teachers. These initiatives have been implemented partly thanks to the support of Dr P. Lafforgue, who regularly carries out supervision sessions related to the projects in progress. As part of our project Dr Lafforgue has given two seminars (23 January 2002; 23 January 2003), entitled ‘Il laboratorio fiabe in un reparto di oncologia pediatrica: funzioni, problematiche e adattamenti della metodologia’ (The fairy tale workshop in a paediatric oncology ward: functions, problems and adaptations of the methodology.)

3. Children affected by brain tumours may suddenly and/or gradually lose the logical and emotional skills that they have acquired until then.

4. For reasons of privacy, the names of the children used in this paper are not their actual names.

5. Dr T. Di Cicco, Dr R. Foggia and Dr P. Giacometti. We would like to thank Dr M. Zirpoli for acting as storyteller.

6. Prof. S.M.G. Adamo and Dr S. Adamo Serpieri.

7. Over a 2-year period 109 children have taken part, of whom 21 were cancer patients and 88 had other disorders; the average age of the children was six and a half years old.