The Effect of Laughter Therapy on Anxiety, Depression and Stress of Cancer Patients Admitted to Long-Term Care Unit

Objective: This study is based on a parallax design before and after a non-equivalent control group to examine the effects of laughter therapy on the anxiety, depression, and stress in patients with cancer admitted to a nursing hospital. Design: A randomized controlled trial. Methods: Data collection was conducted on 34 patients who agreed to participate in the study among patients admitted to E Cancer Hospital from September to November 2018. Laughter treatment interventions were performed three times a week for 50 minutes each and a total of eight times. In this study, a tool developed by Spielberger was used to measure state anxiety, a tool developed by Beck was used to measure depression, and the Perceived Stress Scaled eveloped by Cohen was used to measure stress. Results: Anxiety was significantly lower in the experimental group than in the control group (F=10.74, p=0.003). Depression was lower in both the experimental group and the control group that did not participate in the laughter therapy intervention and was not significant (F=0.58, p=0.451). Stress was significantly lower in the experimental group than in the control group (F=4.36, p=0.045). Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that laughter therapy has a positive effect on reducing anxiety and stress in patients with cancer admitted to nursing hospitals.