Mobile hospital clowning for children – Analysis of the application development from the end users’ perspective

Hospital clowning is an art form and a service offered in the hospital setting for bringing joy and alleviating anxieties related to being in a hospital and undergoing different types of procedures. The Finnish hospital clown organization, Sairaalaklovnit ry, expanded their work from live contacts into a digital world by developing a mobile application.

The goal of this thesis is to analyze the development of the new application from the perspective of user experience. The four research questions of this thesis are as follows: 1) What factors should be considered when developing a hospital clown mobile application for child patients? 2) What are the Finnish hospital clowns’ experiences with the development process and the features implemented in the developed hospital clown mobile application? 3) How can the child patients’ experiences of the chosen features be evaluated in a hospital setting?

During the thesis study, the development process was observed from the project’s kick-off meeting until the publication of the application. The data was gathered through meeting observations, interviews with hospital clowns, and a questionnaire. In addition to the case study of the development, a user experience study with children was designed and as part of this study design, a research plan document for future user experience research to be conducted with child patients was created.

The results of this thesis study show how a mobile application for hospital clowning can be developed, what obstacles the development process can face, and how the client can experience those obstacles and the development process. Also, findings from the pilot study were collected to validate the created research plan.