Personal prerequisites for the success of hospital clowns

The paper reveals the problem of professional activity of hospital clowns. The “hospital clown” profession has not yet received official status in Russia today, and the present work can be the rationale for a new profession. The study involved hospital clowns engaged in this activity for more than 4 years, beginning clown volunteers, and also medical workers who do not provide direct therapeutic care to patients. The total number of subjects was 84 people aged 22 to 55 years. The choice of subjects is due to the need to conduct a comparative analysis of different groups of participants, to identify professionally important qualities, abilities and knowledge that are directly related to the successful activity of a hospital clown. An analysis of the results of an empirical study showed that the success of hospital clowns is associated with pronounced communicative qualities, stress resistance, specific professional skills and knowledge, directly related to the field of clowning.