The favorite books of hospitalized children

• Grant number: 24/21725-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: March 10, 2025
• End date: July 09, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Literature Theory
• Principal Investigator: Márcia Azevedo de Abreu
• Grantee: Beatriz Levanteze de Burgos Machado
• Supervisor: Raymond A Mar
• Host Institution: Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem (IEL). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: York University, Canada
• Associated to the scholarship: 24/05123-8 - Animals and Monsters: The Favorite Books of Hospitalized Children, BP.IC

Abstract

Previous studies, including the project Physiological Effects of Storytelling on Hospitalized Children , led by researchers Márcia Abreu (IEL - Unicamp) and Guilherme Brockington (UFABC), have demonstrated that exposure to fictional narratives yields positive outcomes for the overall well-being of hospitalized children. However, there is a lack of research investigating children's interest in books, which may hinder the achievement of optimal results by organizations that bring storytellers to hospitals and limit progress in improving the quality of pediatric hospitalization. This gap in research also represents a missed opportunity for the children's publishing market, which could benefit from understanding the elements that most captivate young readers. This project aims to explore the hospitalized child's interest in books presented to them, seeking to identify indicators of their preferences. Data have already been collected from 360 children in Brazil. The next step is to gather a broader range of theoretical references and empirical data to enrich and expand the analysis of the collected data. This proposal seeks to undertake a research internship at York University, from January 6, 2025, to April 6, 2025, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Raymond Mar.