Hospital clowns
work worldwide as a health humanization resort, providing interplay with patients,
family and staff. This type of activity varies greatly in terms of
professionalism, accountability and artistic methods. Recently, some healthcare
universities have introduced the clown language to undergraduates, aiming to
train non-technical skills, often underrated in traditional healthcare
teaching. Two 64-hour weekly hospital clown trainings were performed in a
healthcare university in S?o Paulo, Brazil, in 2011 and 2012, with students
from different undergraduate courses. The objective of this study was to assess
the students’ perceptions about this training. Subjects were asked to answer an
open-ended question about their experience during the training. Answers were
analyzed following the thematic analysis principles. Five theme categories were
found: 1) expectations about the training; 2) perceptions of developed skills;
3) difficulties, doubts and unquietness; 4) influences on social and academic
settings; 5) clown concepts after the training. Students highlighted
improvement of listening, sustaining eye contact and dealing with failure as
important apprehended concepts. The training process was considered deep and
serious, and generated questioning and doubts in the subjects. Students
reported influences on their daily activities, namely relationship improvement
with family, friends and patients and enhanced of oral presentations. The clown
training exhibited a potential for professional attitude construction and
reflected on the students’ lives, regarding development of interpersonal
competencies.