Child drawing: hospital--an instrument designed to measure the emotional status of hospitalized school-aged children.

Hospitalization has long been accepted as a stressful experience for children, but the degree of anxiety experienced by any child is unknown. Physiological status is routinely measured, but the same is not true for emotional status. "The Child Drawing: Hospital" was developed as a means of measuring the emotional status of the hospitalized school-aged child. This report presents the validity and reliability of the "Child Drawing: Hospital" as a measure of anxiety for hospitalized children.