Clowning as a therapeutic intervention with the elderly: a literature review

Clown interventions with elderly have been a field of study for twenty years. They concern interventions in hospitals or nursing homes, and particularly on people with cognitive disorders and/or behavioral disorders. The literature also studies the clown interventions in palliative care services. Some studies concern the clowns themselves. Most of writings about clowns intervening in a therapeutic context analyze these interventions through the effect of humor. Other studies, particularly those which are interested in the interventions on people presenting cognitive disorders, focus on the relational qualities of the clown. This synthesis of the literature proposes to make a state of the art on the interventions of clowns with an elderly public, taking into consideration all the characteristics and possible effects of this practice. Thus, we will begin with a description of the interventions of clowns and the specificity of those intervening for the elderly. We will then divide our discussion according to the different targets of the interventions: people with cognitive disorders and palliative care. Next, we will focus on the studies on clowns themselves. If most of studies show positive effects of the clown, almost all mention methodological difficulties. Moreover, the studies take into consideration one of the characteristics of the clown and never the clown as a whole. Furthermore, it will be interesting to observe this practice in non-institutional context.