Sick children’s perceptions of clown doctor humour

Abstract

Clowns and their humour have entertained human beings for centuries. However the literature as yet fails to demonstrate a significant research evidence base on the efficacy of clown humour as a therapy within children’s hospitals/units. Despite this, many health professionals with an interest in both the psychological and physical aspects of patients well-being are showing an increased interest in the use of clown humour within health-care settings. This study focuses on the perceived effects of clown doctor humour as experienced by children in a large children’s inpatient facility in the South of England. 42 children between the ages of four and 11 years were approached and 20 participated fully in the 2 stage process. Data was collected from 17th January 2007–16th May 2007 (over 4 month period). The draw and write/draw and tell technique was used to elicit information from the children. The results pertaining to the draw and write/draw and tell study were considered in two categories, i.e. ‘written’ words and ‘spoken’ words. Before the clown visit the majority of written comments made by the children to annotate their drawings were negative (scared/worried/nervous) and ‘negative’ and ‘sad’ appeared to be the prominent theme. Subsequent to the clown doctor visit to the children there was a significant increase in positive written comments made with no negative comments recorded. There were 34 negative spoken comments articulated by the children and only 14 positive comments, suggesting that the dominant theme before a clown visit was totally negative. Analysis of data elicited after the clown doctor visit showed a much more positive theme, with 57 positive comments being articulated by the children with only three negative comments being generated. This qualitative study of children’s perceptions of hospital clown humour, using the draw and write /draw and tell techniques, has shown that children appreciate the beneficial effects of a clown visit to them during their hospital stay. The data suggests that clown humour can mitigate some of the negative effects of hospitalisation for sick children. Of the 23 suggestions made by the children after the clown encounter, 19 of them were requests for more frequent clown visits or more clown doctors.