A Descriptive Study to Assess the Knowledge and Attitude regarding the Play Needs of Toddlers among Parents in a Selected Hospital of New Delhi

Introduction: Since ages, play is considered to be an essential aspect for a child’s overall development including physical, cognitive, emotional and social development. The play needs of a child keep changing with the different stages of growth and development. For a healthy development of the child, it is important to assess and acknowledge the different play needs of children at different stages. Definitely, there can be no one better than the parents who can understand the play needs and facilitate them accordingly. Hence a need was felt to conduct a study to assess the knowledge and attitude regarding the play needs of toddlers among parents. The objectives of this study were to assess the knowledge and attitude regarding the play needs of toddlers among parents in a selected hospital of New Delhi. Materials and Methods: The research approach selected for the study was quantitative. A descriptive survey design was selected. A total of 50 samples were selected by purposive sampling technique. The tool used for data collection comprised a structured knowledge questionnaire and structured attitude scale to assess the knowledge and attitude regarding the play needs of toddlers among parents, respectively. Results: The findings related to knowledge revealed that 52% of the parents of toddlers had good knowledge while 48% had an average knowledge regarding the play needs of toddlers. In terms of attitude, 92% of the parents of toddlers had a highly favorable attitude while 8% had a moderately favorable attitude regarding the play needs of toddlers. Conclusion: The study revealed that majority of the parents had good knowledge and a highly favorable attitude regarding the play needs of toddlers.