Do clown visits improve psychological and sense of physical well-being of hospitalized pediatric patients? A randomized-controlled trial.

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.