The Effects of Medical Clowns in Children Undergoing Blood Tests

June 18, 2014 updated by: Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center

Evaluation of the Effect of Hospital Clown's Performance in the Procedure Room of a Pediatric Emergency Department: A Randomized Controlled Trial

The investigators hypothesized that the participation of therapeutic clowns in the pediatric emergency department procedure room would reduce anxiety, improve the level of cooperation children can provide and avoid some of the adverse effects.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Research has demonstrated that cognitive psychological techniques, including distraction, can increase pain tolerance. Humor can be an important intervention, able to reduce stress to both the child and the parent. In the last decade there has been a rapid growth in the presence of therapeutic clowns in hospital, particularly in pediatric settings. If therapeutic clowns are shown to positively affect any of the parameters being measured in this study, they should be included as aprt of the standard of care in the pediatric emergency setting.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

60

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Israel
      • Tel-Aviv, Israel
        • Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

3 years to 10 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Children needing venous blood sampling or the insertion of an intravenous canula

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Children whose blood work or intravenous line must be accomplished rapidly for therapeutic reasons
  • Absence of a parent during the procedure
  • Abnormal development according to parents

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Clown
A clown is present during venipuncture
Behavioral: clown
a distraction technique is performed by a clown during venipuncture
No Intervention: No clown

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Pain score
Time Frame: at the end of the procedure
recorded by the child
at the end of the procedure

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Parental anxiety level
Time Frame: at the end of the procedure
recorded by the parent
at the end of the procedure
Procedure's success rate
Time Frame: at the end of the procedure
recorded by the nurse
at the end of the procedure
Overall report of procedure's comfort
Time Frame: at the end of the procedure
recorded by the nurse
at the end of the procedure

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

July 1, 2011

Primary Completion (Actual)

December 1, 2012

Study Completion (Actual)

December 1, 2012

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 17, 2011

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 18, 2011

First Posted (Estimate)

July 19, 2011

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

June 19, 2014

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 18, 2014

Last Verified

June 1, 2014

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • TASMC-11-SR-525-CTIL

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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