The Impact of Medical Clowning on Pain and Stress Level in Pediatric Patients Undergoing Hernia Repair Surgery LAUGH Study.

The Impact of Medical Clowning on Pain and Stress Level in Pediatric Patients Undergoing Hernia Repair Surgery LAUGH Study

Status

Completed

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT01622218

Enrollment

Registered

2012-06-19

Start date

2012-08-31

Completion date

2018-12-31

Last updated

2020-11-12

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Inguinal Hernia, Umbilical Hernia

Keywords

Medical clown

Brief summary

The purpose of our study to quantitatively examine the stress levels prior to surgery and the use of analgesics post surgery in both children and their parents following a preoperative intervention with a medical clown compared to children that were not exposed to this intervention.

Interventions

BEHAVIORALMedical Clown

Presence of clowns on child's postoperative pain levels, anxiety levels of the child and the accompanying parent and the effect of the intervention on the total consumption of analgesics and on the post- surgery inflammatory markers

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

4 Years to 10 Years

Healthy volunteers

Inclusion criteria

* ages 4-10 years old * undergoing elective umbilical or inguinal hernia repair surgery * ASA Physical Status = 1

Exclusion criteria

* None

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Children: WBS (Wong Baker Faces Pain Rating Scale)	24 hours	measure at 4 time points (repeated measures) - at admission, discharge, 12 and 24 hours.

Secondary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Use of analgesics	During the 24 hours following the surgery	Total dose of analgesics over 24 periods per kg.
Cytokines levels	End of precedure, before waking up	Cytokined levels at the end of the surgery (end of precedure, before waking up)(IL-1b, IL-2,IL-6, IL-8, IL-10,TNF-α and VEGF)

Countries

Israel

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026