Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30156995›Full record

ArticleInternational journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being2018

Feeling happy and carefree: a qualitative study on the experiences of parents, medical clowns and healthcare professionals with medical clowns.

Jesminne Bruins Slot, Michelle Hendriks, Ronald Batenburg

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Medical clowning in hospitalized children: a meta-analysis.World journal of pediatrics : WJP · 2023
    Pooled it
  2. Changing bodies: A scoping review and thematic analysis of family experience during serious childhood illness.Journal of child health care : for professionals working with children in the hospital and community · 2024
    Article
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  4. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Jesminne Bruins Slota Care from the Patient Perspective , Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (NIVEL) , Utrecht , the Netherlands.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7726-3234
Michelle Hendriksa Care from the Patient Perspective , Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (NIVEL) , Utrecht , the Netherlands.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7924-6294
Ronald Batenburgb Professions in Health Care and Manpower Planning , Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (NIVEL) , Utrecht , the Netherlands.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1287-0604

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeTo explore the effect of medical clowns and its relevant actors and conditions.

methodSemi-structured interviews were conducted with fourteen parents who had experiences with medical clowns in the Netherlands. Four focus groups were held with seven medical clowns and 25 healthcare professionals. The interviews and focus groups were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Content analysis was used to analyse the data.

resultsConcerning the clown effect, we distinguished the following themes: happiness, distraction, carefree feeling and activation. This effect depended upon clown characteristics (appearance, tailoring, low-key play, making an effort); child characteristics (age, autonomy, fear, living cut off from society, communication); parent characteristics (autonomy, attitude); healthcare professional characteristics (attitude, communication); and organizational conditions (timing and planning, collaboration, accessibility, awareness).

conclusionThis study shows that medical clowns are of value for children with serious illnesses or mental disabilities in several care settings. An asset of medical clowns is that they tailor their play to the child and situation.Support of and communication with parents and healthcare professionals is critical. The proposed model of the clown effect can help shape future research. The results can help medical clown organizations to enhance their services and optimize clown encounters.

Indexed as

AttitudeChild, HospitalizedHappinessHealth PersonnelMental Health ServicesParentsPlay and PlaythingsChildChild, PreschoolCommunicationFearFocus GroupsHumansQualitative ResearchSurveys and QuestionnairesClown doctorsdisabled childrenhospitalized childrenmedical clownsqualitative methods

Identifiers

PMID30156995
PMCPMC6116696

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.