In this chapter, we briefly introduce earlier studies on the importance of emotional and psychological care for the sound development of children, and the emergence of quality of life (QoL) as a concept that captures holistic well-being of children.
As one of the major measures to ensure sick children’s well-being in hospitals, hospital school in Japan is presented. Current activities and the history of hospital school are also described. Cases of children with grave illnesses who attended hospital schools are presented as evidence to prove the pivotal role of hospital school for improving children’s well-being.
Finally a non-governmental activity for sustaining high QoL of children with illnesses outside their hospitals is introduced as an example among many possible measures to improve the well-being of children with chronic illnesses.