Systematic review synthesizes qualitative research on elder clowning's engagement techniques and benefits for dementia patients, suggesting improved wellbeing.
Elder clowning is a psychosocial intervention delivered to persons living with dementia in long-term care. It aims to improve quality of life through interpersonal interaction and connection. This review aimed to synthesise international cross-disciplinary qualitative research regarding elder clowning specialist capabilities, engagement techniques, and potential benefits, for persons living with dementia, their families, and staff. The method was informed by systematic review methodologies. A comprehensive search of major health databases was undertaken. The search identified 198 studies, 15 articles from 10 studies were appraised and included in the review. Three major themes resulted from the synthesis: 1) understanding the elder clown, 2) journeying together to cultivate connection, and 3) promoting wellbeing through connection. Elder clowns were suggested to be perceptive, attuned, empathetic, present, adaptive, and performative. These capabilities supported a wide range of engagement techniques used to prepare for, approach, initiate, sustain, redirect, appeal for, and exit engagement with persons with dementia, which resulted in potential benefits across cognitive, behavioural, emotional, social, and experiential domains. The synthesis offers a common rubric for describing the components of elder clowning interventions for use across disciplines and identifies potential benefits to aid in the design of future trials of effectiveness.
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Roberts et al. (2025) studied this question.
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