Social Relations and Innovation: Changing the State of Play in Hospitals (Routledge Revivals)

David Hall spent several months studying the introduction of play therapy in children’s hospitals - the ways in which it is organized and introduced, and the way in which hospital staff, characteristically therapeutic in their orientation and disciplined in their approach, react to the deliberately informal approaches of play schemes in children’s wards.His observations form the basis for Social Relations and Innovation (originally published in 1977) of the process and impact of change in hospitals in England and Wales. Taking the ward as a social unit, the author describes how the effects of change could be seen not only on the children themselves but also upon parents, doctors, nurses, and ancillary staff.He analyzes the degree of support or hindrance given to the schemes in terms of the power relations and value orientations among the participants at ward level.The problems for children in hospital through lack of information, meaninglessness and ambiguity about their situation are