June 24, 2002

Child Life Specialist interns find
career they were meant to have

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Lori Barbaglia knows first hand the trauma that often grips seriously ill or severely injured children.

She was hospitalized several times as a child and developed what she calls a “horrible fear” of hospitals.

Now, Barbaglia wants to make the experience a little more bearable for today’s children.  So does Kim Newlin, who initially pursued a degree in dietetics but shifted gears upon learning of a profession many people may not know exists.

Thanks to a partnership between Indiana State University and Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, Barbaglia and Newlin have completed the necessary training to work as child life specialists, healthcare professionals who focus on the emotional and developmental needs of children and families.

Using play and other forms of communication, child life specialists seek to reduce the stress associated with healthcare experiences and enable children and families to cope in a more positive manner.

Working as a child life specialist is “in a sense my way of giving back and trying to help people who might e in the situation that I was in at a young age,” said Barbaglia.  “Everything about it was just something very unique and something that I thought you could make a big difference in.”

A St. Louis native who now lives in Indianapolis, Barbaglia graduated from Ohio State University in 2001 with a degree in human development and family science.  A counselor sparked her interest in child life and she contacted several colleges concerning an internship.

“Indiana State was the only one that was really very good to work with me and very willing to work with me,” she said.  “Methodist Hospital was wonderful in that sense, too.”

It was Barbara Clauss, assistant professor of family and consumer sciences, who inspired Newlin.

“I started out at ISU as a dietetics major … (but) it didn’t really suit me.   I wanted to work more with kids and be more involved,” said the Bloomingdale resident.  “I took a class with Dr. Clauss and she was talking about the child life specialists and the different opportunities they have of working in the hospital with sick children and I thought that was something I would really enjoy.”

Because the child life program is so specialized, attracting only five ISU interns since the late 1990s, students take the initiative in setting up their internships, Clauss explained.

“It was a matter of students being able to tailor their own programs to suit their needs,” she said.  “The more we have students do that the better I feel.  Family and consumer sciences is such a broad program that we can’t prepare them for a specific job.”

Barbaglia and Newlin are convinced they’ve made the right career choice.

“It’s incredible when a child’s either been worried, upset, crying or in a lot of pain and you can go in there, interact with them, play with them and see a smile come across their face,” Barbaglia said.  “It is the most amazing feeling.  It’s great.  So many times I’ve come home feeling so good and so proud knowing that this is what I’m supposed to be doing:  helping children in hospitals.”

A 4-year-old girl with a brain tumor was among the patients Newlin worked with.

“It was just remarkable to see how strong this little girl was and how she didn’t let it get her down,” she said.  “She was a little shaky … but she was up and going and she’d smile every time I’d come in there.  It really makes a difference when you can tell you’re helping kids out.”

By helping young patients child life specialists also help parents, who may have other children at home who also need their attention.

“We’ll sit with the child. We’ll play with them, watch a movie with them so that they’re not alone and the parent can leave the hospital for a little bit,” Barbaglia said.  “They can go get some clothes and feel comfortable leaving their children alone in a hospital and not be worried.”

While being a child life specialist can be rewarding, both professionally and financially, it is not a job for everyone, said Clauss.

“It’s not for the faint of heart,” she said.  “We have people who are coming out of nursing feeling dissatisfied, people coming out of education who want to work with kids but they don’t know that that’s going to look like.  It’s very appealing, but very strenuous and demanding so it does scare some of them away.”

Child life programs are generally limited to major metropolitan hospitals which have sufficient numbers of pediatric and adolescent patients to justify the expense.

Hospital officials have been pleased with the skills and abilities of ISU’s interns, said Dr. Jim Jones, a psychologist who manages Methodist’s child life department.

“We get a high caliber of student candidates that come in, which is want we’re looking for,” Jones said. “ISU has been very supportive in all of their students that they’ve sent and in the quality of students that they’ve provided for us.

“After a couple of weeks of  orientation … we like to see them grow,” Jones said.  “We like to see them become more independent because by the time they graduate they need to be ready to go out into the field and start working and be a great professional.”

Child life internships at Methodist are a prime example of the real world experiences Indiana State is emphasizing for its students.

Such practical experiences have “been a critical component in everything we’ve done,” said Clauss.  “Because we have such a broad area there’s just no way around that.  We know that students come to college so that they can get a job.  We’re not a medical field, but there’s a place for our students in the medical field and they have to see how that all fits together.”

Jones tells interns they’ll use “about half” of what they’ve learned in the classroom.  “The other half you’ll learn from who you are and how you deal with people.

“It’s a great combination of what they’ve learned and things they have to find out that they haven’t learned and melding those together.  This is an opportunity that few students will have to really touch the lives of other people.

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Contact:
Barbara Clauss, assistant professor of family and consumer sciences
(812) 237-3299 or heclauss@ruby.indstate.edu

Writer:
Dave Taylor, assistant director, Public Affairs
(812) 237-3743 or devtaylo@isugw.indstate.edu

Public Affairs:
(812) 237-3773 or http://isunews.indstate.edu