NCT02610452

Assessing the Impact of Clown Therapy in a Palliative Care Unit: A Prospective, Descriptive Study

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 30 (actual)
• Sponsor: Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nīmes · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The main objective of this study was to assess changes in the quality of life of patients in a Palliative Care Unit via the symptoms by the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS) before and one hour after the passage of a clown therapist .

Detailed description

The secondary objectives of this study are to evaluate before versus after the intervention of clowns therapists: A. Changes in the quality of life at two days after the intervention (using the ESAS). B. The quality of life two days after the intervention via the McGill Quality of Life Questionnaire. C. The quality of life of patients after the intervention as assessed by semi-structured interviews conducted by the department psychologist. D. The quality of life of caregivers after the intervention as assessed by semi-structured interviews conducted by the department psychologist. E. Employee satisfaction at the end of the intervention period in the department and after debriefing as assessed by semi-structured interviews conducted by the department psychologist.

Conditions

• Palliative Care

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Clown therapy	The clowns intervene by twos: a game takes place. 1. The game requires the active presence of a number of potential players in the room (patient, family, caregivers) and takes into account body position, emotional state, the general atmosphere. 2. The clowns initiate a game proposal: provisional staging of clown characters based on imagination/improvisation which engages a physicality and a basic emotional state. 3. The original game proposal is adjusted according to mutual empathy with those present. 4. The game is developed on the model of theatrical improvisation: an original creation that has "scenic" quality comparable to that of a complete representation. Improvisation time varies depending on the condition of the person, his/her desire to participate, choosing the main theme. 5. The final stage of the game is preparing all actors for separation: restitution of roles, revisiting the paths traveled.

Timeline

• Start date: 2016-03-31
• Primary completion: 2016-11-12
• Completion: 2016-11-12
• First posted: 2015-11-20
• Last updated: 2017-07-28

Locations

1 site across 1 country: France