The goal of this qualitative research was to achieve a deeper psychological understanding of professional hospital clown work with hospitalized children during their end-of-life care period. Using a statistical text analysis with a co-occurrence strategy we showed several narrative categories from a clown’s perspective: “Tragic metamorphosis,” “Meditating on the mystery,” “An ultimate poetic atmosphere,” “Interconnectedness and interrelatedness of all things,” “An emotional catalyst,” “The deep need to say goodbye,” “Ethical guidance values.” We will interpret the narratives categories according to humanistic/existential framework as the theoretical base. The clown addresses those aspects of healing that are not well developed in modern Western medicine, the treatment of the whole person. The clown embraces human nature as physical, emotional, cognitive, and spiritual.

The aim of this qualitative research is to describe how the parents perceive the work of hospital clowns in the context of bereavement. Using the text analysis software T-LAB (Version 9.1.3) with a co-occurrence strategy we examined several bereaved parents’ narratives related to the clowning. We showed six themes from parents’ narratives: “The Funny Side of Life”, “Good Memories,” “The Clown is a ‘Big Kid’,” “They Are Part of My Family,” “Bringing Life and Creating Vital Disorder,” and “Awareness of a Clown’s Abilities.” We will interpret the themes according to a humanistic/existential framework as the theoretical base. According to parents’ experience, professional hospital clowns appear to bring a positive contribution in terms of the reconstruction of meaning in the context of bereavement.