title: Do clown visits improve psychological and sense of physical well-being of hospitalized pediatric patients? A randomized-controlled trial.
abstract: The study tested whether clown visits would be associated with an increase in psychological and perceived physical well-being of pediatric patients. Patients (6-14 years old) were randomized to a clown visit (n=50) or no-visit control (n=50). Patients and parents were administered a modified version of the KINDL-R questionnaire at pretest, immediately after the clown visit (posttest), and at a 4-h follow-up. The experimental group showed an increase in self-reported and parent-reported psychological well-being at posttest. However, these effects were not maintained at follow-up. There was no effect of the clown visit on perceived physical well-being. It is concluded that clown visits appear to improve psychological well-being of pediatric patients, but the effects may only be short lived.
authors.affiliation: Psychology, Philipps University, Marburg, Germany. pinquart@staff.uni-marburg.de
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pinquart
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Skolaude
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zaplinski
authors.forename: R F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Maier
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002673:Child, Hospitalized / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D055809:Illness Behavior; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014789:Visitors to Patients / Q000523:psychology*; D014925:Wit and Humor as Topic