HCIM will offer inspiring sessions for everyone within a healthcare clowning organisation, as well as for healthcare professionals and fundraisers. By sharing and working together we can increase our impact in the world.
Below you will find more information about the invited sessions. In addition to this, a lot of abstracts have also been submitted. You can find them in the program.
Below you will find more information about the invited sessions. In addition to this, a lot of abstracts have also been submitted. You can find them in the program.
invited parallel sessions
Workshop - Understanding responsive behaviors of people with Dementia (April 21st, day 2)
By Annemarie Bolder Understanding and experiencing dementia-related responsive behaviours and explore how people with dementia may express their needs through behaviour, rather than word. You get tips, trics and tools how to use this knowledge in your daily work. |
Workshop - Autisme Experience Circuit (April 20th, day 1)
By Sandra Kok and Frans Brocatus The workshop gives you, through assignments, insight into a life with ASD based on the three pillars: the Ton theory (not being able to empathize with feelings or thoughts of others), Central Coherence (seeing the details rather than the big picture), Executive functions (panning and organizing). You will experience what an intense stimulation of the senses does to you and how you react when the environment does not match your way of thinking. |
Workshop - Doorway Delight (April 21st, day 2)
By Michael Christensen As professional healthcare performing artists, we work/play in a wide variety of facilities and areas: pediatric hospitals, long term care centers, in-patient service areas, out-patient clinics, emergency rooms, specialty clinics and waiting rooms. All of these spaces share something in common: doorways. We constantly find ourselves in doorways. In fact, sometimes in certain situations, we never actually enter the space and must empower, interact and make authentic, joyful contact within the small proscenium arches the room entrances provide. Limiting? Perhaps. Filled with possibilities? Absolutely. This workshop will focus on the creative, physical opportunities within these openings. |
Presentation - On the matter of ‘impact’ in arts-based research: Capturing outcomes, aesthetics, or both? (April 20th, day 1)
By Pia Kontos The dominance of positivist approaches to evaluating the impact of arts-based programs in dementia care reflects deep-seated assumptions about science and what counts as evidence. ‘Impact’ is viewed narrowly as outcome based, concrete, and easily measured. While this captures whether certain programs work in a generalizable way, the exclusive reliance on quantitative outcome measures misses why they work, the complexity of the processes of such programs that are nuanced, interactive, and often unpredictable. Traditional approaches to evaluating impact also fail to capture the aesthetic quality of the arts and how this influences their impact. Drawing on a mixed methods evaluation of an elder-clown program, I will explore how qualitative and quantitative methods were used to address different research questions, and how they each supported different understandings of the impact of the program on persons living with dementia. |
Workshop (streamed) - Empowering older adults living with cognitive diversity to embrace playful activities and to clown in Brazil. (April 21st, day 2)
By Lenisa Brandão Experience report of an in-person clowning and a remote playful program with older adults living with cognitive diversity. Lenisa leads a clowning group composed by people living with aphasia, called Palhafasia. During the pandemic, she has been leading an interdisciplinary project that involves various researchers from the areas of health and art in Brazilian universities to offer online playful sessions for older adults living with dementia and aphasia post stroke. These playful online sessions have been demonstrating that offering online playful activities for this population is not only feasible, but also very well received. After conducting the implementation steps for diving into online clowning with this population, Lenisa is now planning to launch a study to investigate the effects of clowning online in the quality of life and communication functionally of older adults living with aphasia. |
Presentation - “Send in the Clowns!”: Challenging stigma associated with dementia and enriching lives (April 21st, day 2)
By Pia Kontos Engagement with the arts is increasingly advocated to reduce stigma and to increase social inclusion of persons living with dementia since the arts so powerfully support non-verbal communication, affect, and the opportunity to participate in activities that are meaningful to self and others. Common arts-based programs in dementia care include music, dance, and art therapy. Despite the compelling impact of arts- and leisure-based programs in dementia care, they continue to ascribe to biomedical cornerstones of functional intervention and behavior modification. The consequence is that the arts are primarily adopted as a therapeutic tool to manage challenging behaviours, which, as I will argue, is far too narrow since best practice guidelines recommend ‘staying socially connected’, ‘maintaining sources of enrichment, pleasure and stimulation’, and providing ‘leisure time activities that are based on the individual’s interests’. Drawing on an evaluation of an elder-clown program, I shall argue that this unique art form is not only consistent with these recommendations, but goes beyond in that it can help to foster a relational environment that more fully supports the capacity of individuals living with dementia for creativity, imagination, and other positive human potentialities. |