Lee, Paul H. (2018) Effectiveness of therapeutic clowning on handwashing habits remains unknown. Evidence-Based Nursing, 21 (4), 104. (doi:10.1136/eb-2018-102972).
Abstract
Implications for practice and research: Further interventions targeting preschool children can consider delivery methods involving clowns and other entertaining methods.The effectiveness of the therapeutic clowning approach should be compared with existing teaching methods.
Context: Handwashing is an effective and convenient practice to prevent many infectious diseases. Children, especially preschoolers, will benefit the most from proper handwashing as they are vulnerable to infectious diseases. Traditional educations on handwashing may not effectively engage preschool children. Arıkan and colleagues proposed an entertaining method, that is, using therapeutic clowning, to teach handwashing technique among preschool children.2 They evaluated their proposed therapeutic clowning by their subjects’ handwashing habit and hand cleanliness.
Methods: Arıkan and colleagues conducted a randomised controlled trial to examine the effectiveness of the proposed therapeutic clowning teaching method. Children aged 4–6 years were recruited in two kindergartens in Erzurum, Turkey, in 2016. A total of 90 subjects were randomly assigned to the experimental group and 105 were assigned to the control group. Those in the experimental group received 4 weekly handwashing demonstration by a research assistant who was dressed up as a clown. They also watched a cartoon film demonstration of 5–10 min about basic knowledge of infectious disease and handwashing techniques. Those in the control group received no intervention.
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