Purpose

The research aim was to investigate the effects of therapeutic clowning on pain and fear during the process of venous blood sampling in children.

Design and Methods

This study was conducted in a randomised controlled trial from January to March 2020. The study population consisted of children from 7 to 12 years of age who came to the research centre for blood sampling. The research sample consisted of 166 children (83 in the intervention group and 83 in the control group) who met the research criteria and came to the research centre on a specific date through probable sampling. For the data collection, a questionnaire form, the Visual Analogue Scale and the Children's Fear Scale were used. Therapeutic clowning was used in this process for the intervention group. There was no intervention for children who were in the control group. The calculation of percentage distribution and means, χ2 test, analysis of variance analysis in repeated measures and least significant difference and independent t-test were used to analyse the data.

Results

The results of the research indicated that children in the intervention group had significantly lower pain and fear than children in the control group (p < .001). Therapeutic clowning seems to effectively reduce pain and fear during venous blood sampling for children from 7 to 12 years of age. Our results support using therapeutic clowns which is an inexpensive, safe, and effective method for lowering children's pain and fear during venous blood sampling.

Practice Implications

The use of therapeutic clowns could become the standard of care in blood sampling for children from 7 to 12 years of age in hospitals. Therapeutic clowning, which is an easy-to-use, low-cost and practical method to provide better communication and cooperation with the family and the child, can be used as a complementary therapy in all nursing areas, especially in the field of paediatrics. Nurses could be encouraged to be trained on the use of therapeutic humour based upon a standardised approach and offered guidance on how to apply entertaining methods such as clowns. Therapeutic clowning can be examined in other applications in nursing care in light of these results.