An idea for the Bachelor’s thesis came from children’s nursing class. The subject was offered to a children’s unit in Pirkanmaa health care district and they willingly agreed to be commissioner for the thesis.

The aim of the thesis was to make a guide about children’s hospital-related fears. The guide is meant for the parents of the 3-6 year old children. The guide can also be utilized by the hospital staff in part of the patient guidance.

The purpose of the thesis was to evolve in children’s nursing and get more knowledge about children’s hospital-related fears. The purpose was also to increase knowledge of parents and nursing staff about the theme.

There are only a few studies about children’s hospital-related fears done in Finland. That is why it was complicated to find good up-to-date sources for the thesis. In the thesis mainly Finnish studies and diverse literature as sources were used.

Based on studies children are afraid of many things in hospital for example pain, strange environment and people and equipment. Hospital-related fears may cause many effects on children. Some effects can be seen already in hospital but some not until at home.

The subject of the thesis was limited so that there is no study how the guide was used in practice. In the future it would be useful to study if the guide has been used in daily nursing in the unit and if the guide has given new perspectives to nursing.