Evaluation of Healthcare clowning for child patients
Description of the practice Healthcare clowning for child patients
You can read the entire evaluation of Healthcare clowning for child patients in Julkari
- Name of the practice: Healthcare clowning for child patients
- Background and aim: The Finnish Hospital Clowns Association, which was established in 2001, facilitates professional and regular clown activities in all of Finland's university hospitals and in many central hospitals. Illness and hospitalisation of a child is a situation that places a burden on the family. Healthcare clowns are there to support the children, bringing them joy in a situation that often involves many stressful factors. The aim is to affect the hospital experience of the child and the family and the memory that it leaves: to create a positive patient experience, to promote a satisfying hospital experience and to offer psycho-social support.
- Use of the practice: Hospitals in Finland started using clowns in 2002. They are in use in all Finnish university hospitals and in several central hospitals. Organisations operate under a European umbrella group in 19 different countries in Europe. Globally, healthcare clown activities have spread to more than 100 different countries.
- Target group: The child patients of children's hospital wards and out-patient clinics, and their next of kin.
- Applicability to different target groups: Easily applicable to different age and special groups. E.g. the clowns work among children on the autism spectrum, children with learning disabilities and those with long-term illnesses. The practice was piloted with adults recovering from mental conditions and elderly people with memory disorders.
- Method: Clown activities are based on the power of a sense of humour, presence, and encountering others. Healthcare clownery is a way of interacting in a child-oriented and situationally sensitive manner through play, imagination, and improvisation. The clowns visit children's wards and out-patient clinics, preparing the children for medical procedures and escorting them there.
- Monitoring and evaluation: Effectiveness, accessibility, and the well-being of personnel are monitored using a medical staff survey, a feedback questionnaire for families, information collected by the clowns, a survey on occupational well-being, and encounter statistics. Meetings are arranged with medical staff to develop cooperation.
- Cost estimate: Approx. € 800,000 a year.
Results, impact and effectiveness
A peer-reviewed study (Karisalmi et al., 2020) shows that the presence of a clown in a cannulation had a positive effect on the patient experience of children and their families. In a medical staff survey, 93% of respondents agreed that healthcare clowns have a positive effect on a child's patient experience.
International studies show that clowns have positive effect on the child's state of mind, easing tension, and experience of pain.
Research has shown that methods with art and culture as a starting point promote health and wellbeing. A report published by the World Health Organisation in 2019 found evidence that art is of significance in the
treatment, management, and prevention of several illnesses, and in promoting health and well-being.
Cost-effectiveness has not been researched, but feedback from medical staff and the
experiences of the clowns suggest that clown activities can lead to cost savings in some situations.
Further development
The goal is to make clown work a more integral part of various treatment measures and to
further increase the presence of clowns in hospitals.
Summary of the evaluation
- Evaluation category: The practice has been in use nationally for a long time (over 10 years)
- Publication date: 28.2.2023 (in Finnish), 12.9. 2023 (in English)
- Peer-reviewers of the practice: Hanna Ahokoivu, Heli Järvelä, Kati Myllymäki, Sauli Palmu and Kimmo Savela
Overall evaluation: 5/5 (excellent)
Excellent child-oriented established activity. Hospital clowning for child patients has been internationally recognised, and its effects have been extensively acknowledged.
Contact person for the practice in Finland
Kari Jagt
[email protected]
Sairaalaklovnit
European Federation of Healthcare Clown Organizations
