Fear of clowns in hospitalized children: prospective experience

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• 作者：Noam Meiri ; Zeev Schnapp ; Amichi Ankri ; Itay Nahmias…
• 关键词：Medical clown ; Fear of clowns ; Coulrophobia
• 刊名：European Journal of Pediatrics
• 出版年：2017
• 出版时间：February 2017
• 年：2017
• 卷：176
• 期：2
• 页码：269-272
• 全文大小：
• 刊物主题：Pediatrics;
• 出版者：Springer Berlin Heidelberg
• ISSN：1432-1076
• 卷排序：176

文摘

Medical clowns (MC) have become an integral part of the pediatric staff of hospital wards. While several studies have demonstrated the huge benefits of MC, there are almost no data regarding fear of clowns, a known phenomenon that means an irrational fear of clowns. In the current study, we sought to examine the prevalence of fear of clowns in pediatrics wards, and to characterize the affected children. The clinical work of three certified MCs was prospectively assessed. Every child with fear of clowns was noted, data were retrieved from the medical records, and the parents/child completed a specific questionnaire with a research assistant. Fear of clowns was defined as crying, anxiety response or effort to avoid contact with the MCs in small children, while in older children, it was determined if the child either reported fear of MCs or made actions to avoid clowns’ intervention. A total of 1160 children participated in the study. All were hospitalized in the department of pediatrics or the pediatric emergency medicine department at Carmel Medical Center, and were exposed to a MC intervention session. Of the 1160 children, 14 children experienced fear of clowns (1.2%). The average age of children who experienced fear of clowns was 3.5 years (range 1–15). Interestingly, most of the children demonstrating fear of clowns were girls (12 out of 14, 85.7%). We found no association between fear of clowns and specific diagnosis, fever, clinical appearance, religion, or ethnicity.