Abstract
Hospital clowns work worldwide as a health humanization resort, providing interplay with patients, family and staff. This type of activity varies greatly in terms of professionalism, accountability and artistic methods. Recently, some healthcare universities have introduced the clown language to undergraduates, aiming to train non-technical skills, often underrated in traditional healthcare teaching. Two 64-hour weekly hospital clown trainings were performed in a healthcare university in S?o Paulo, Brazil, in 2011 and 2012, with students from different undergraduate courses. The objective of this study was to assess the students’ perceptions about this training. Subjects were asked to answer an open-ended question about their experience during the training. Answers were analyzed following the thematic analysis principles. Five theme categories were found: 1) expectations about the training; 2) perceptions of developed skills; 3) difficulties, doubts and unquietness; 4) influences on social and academic settings; 5) clown concepts after the training. Students highlighted improvement of listening, sustaining eye contact and dealing with failure as important apprehended concepts. The training process was considered deep and serious, and generated questioning and doubts in the subjects. Students reported influences on their daily activities, namely relationship improvement with family, friends and patients and enhanced of oral presentations. The clown training exhibited a potential for professional attitude construction and reflected on the students’ lives, regarding development of interpersonal competencies.
Highlights
For almost three decades clowns have been acting in hospitals alongside patients, family members and health professionals (Barkmann et al, 2013; Oppenheim et al, 1997) and are known by many names, such as hospital clowns, medical clowns or clown doctors (Warren & Spitzer, 2011)
The objective of the present study was to assess the perceptions of healthcare undergraduate students that have attended a clown training in a university in the city of São Paulo, Brazil
The hospital clown training performed with undergraduate healthcare students presented a tendency to contribute to the development of non-technical skills, since it provokes changes in interpersonal competencies, provided that a comfortable framework is offered for the participants to establish creative, non-invasive and spontaneous relationships with others
Summary
For almost three decades clowns have been acting in hospitals alongside patients, family members and health professionals (Barkmann et al, 2013; Oppenheim et al, 1997) and are known by many names, such as hospital clowns, medical clowns or clown doctors (Warren & Spitzer, 2011). Many Brazilian clown groups have been structured and worked in hospitals Both in Brazil (Françani et al, 1998; Lanzieri et al, 2011; Lima et al, 2009; Sorrir é Viver Medical University Clown Program Homepage, 2014), as in other countries (Siegel-Itzkovich, 2002; Washington University School of Medicine First Year Curriculum-Selective Courses-Medicine of Laughter, 2014), universities that offer healthcare courses have launched initiatives that aim to introduce the clown language to undergraduate students, who will be future physicians, nurses, physical therapists, among other professions. The objective of the present study was to assess the perceptions of healthcare undergraduate students that have attended a clown training in a university in the city of São Paulo, Brazil
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