• Women's Health Nursing
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.248-256
• /
• 2012

Purpose: This study examines the difference of optimism, self-esteem and depression to verify an effect of laughter therapy program for menopausal women. Methods: A quasi-experimental nonequivalent control group pre / post-test design was used. The participants (n=57) were 28 in the experimental group and 29 in the control group. The data were collected in December of 2011. The experimental group participated in laughter therapy for 30 min per session, five times a week for the period of 2 weeks. The questionnaires were used to measure pre / post-test optimism, self-esteem, and depression of menopausal women. Results: The results showed that laughter therapy was effective in increasing optimism (p= .020) and self-esteem (p<.001). And the depression of menopausal women decreased (p= .003). Conclusion: The result of the study indicates that laughter therapy for menopausal women may be an effective nursing intervention to improve optimism, self-esteem and depression of menopausal women.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.15 no.11
• /
• pp.289-297
• /
• 2015

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of laughter therapy program on stress and depression in nursing college students. The design of this study is nonequivalent control group, quasi-experimental study. Data were collected from December 5, 2014, to January 9, 2015, with 75 nursing sophomores (40 in experimental group and 35 in control group) in Chungnam and Jeonbuk Province in Korea, using self-reported questionnaires. The experimental group participated in laughter therapy program four times, once a week for 120min per session. The data were collected prior and after the intervention using self-administered questionnaires. Data were analyzed using t-test and $X^2-test$. The results of the study showed that the levels of stress (t=-2.32, p=0.02) and depression (t=-4.87, p<0.001) were significantly lower in the experimental group than in the control group. Based on the results, the laughter therapy program may be recommended as an useful intervention to effectively reduce the levels of stress and depression in nursing college students and anticipated to be developed and published continuously.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
• /
• v.15 no.9
• /
• pp.511-518
• /
• 2017

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of the laughter treatment program on the satisfaction of life and emotional perception clarity of adult women. The subjects were 90 adult women in P metropolitan city who agreed to participate in the experiment and randomly placed 45 women in the control group and 45 women in the experimental group. In the experimental group, the laughter treatment program was conducted for fifteen weeks for a total of fifty minutes a week. t-test and covariance analysis were used to verify the effectiveness of the laughter treatment program. The results of the study are as follows. First, it was found that the laughter treatment program significantly improves the satisfaction of life of adult women. Second, the laughter treatment program significantly increased the emotional perception of adult women. Finally, the implications and limitations of this study and future research topics were discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
• /
• v.28 no.2
• /
• pp.111-119
• /
• 2015

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of laughter therapy programs on middle school students' happiness, self-esteem and school life adaptation. Methods: In total, 60 students (Experimental group= 30. Control group=30) were recruited to answer a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire was composed of questions about general characteristics, happiness, self-esteem and school life adaptation. The experimental group participated in a 45-minute laughter therapy program once a week for eight weeks, while the control group did not. Results: The scores of happiness(t=-4.68, p<.001), self-esteem(t=-3.38, p=.001), and school life adaptation(t=-3.76, p<.001) in the experimental group got significantly higher than the control group. Conclusion: Based on this study results, laughter therapy programs should be applied to improve happiness, self-esteem, and school life adaptation of middle school students.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.188-198
• /
• 2019

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of laughter therapy on depression, anxiety, fatigue, and quality of sleep in gastrointestinal cancer survivors. Methods: This study was a randomized controlled trial. We compared the effect of laughter therapy with usual care only in post chemotherapy gastrointestinal patients. Outcomes included changes in depression and anxiety (according to the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale), fatigue (according to the Fatigue Severity Scale), and quality of sleep (according to the Verran & Synder-Halpern Sleep Scale). Data was collected July 2015 through January 2016. Seventy nine participants who agreed to participate in this study were randomized to either the experimental group (n= 40) or the control group (n= 39). Therapy included eight sessions (60 minutes each, once weekly). Data were analyzed using the Windows SPSS 22.0 program. Results: Laughter therapy was effective in reducing fatigue (p= .019) and increasing satisfaction of sleep (p= .030). There were no differences between the groups after therapy for depression (p= .129) and anxiety (p= .200). Conclusion: Results of this study indicate that laughter therapy may be an effective nursing intervention for improving the health status of gastrointestinal cancer survivors after chemotherapy.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.68-78
• /
• 2010

Purpose: This study was conducted to determine the effects of Tai-Chi exercise and self-help management program applying laughter therapy in patients with osteoarthritis. Methods: This quasi-experimental study recruited a sample of 61 patients with osteoarthritis (experimental group: 30, control group: 31) through the community healthcare centers located in Seoul and Kyung Gi area. The primary outcome measures included symptoms of osteoarthritis, basic physical performance, fatigue, and depression assessed before and after the study. The data were analyzed using SPSSWIN V. 12.0. Results: At the end of the six-week intervention, left shoulder flexibility (t=2.011, p=.049), 6m walking speed (t=3.639, p=.001), and right balance (t=-2.30, p=.025) were significantly improved in the control group. Fatigue (t=3.012, p=.004), stiffness (t=2,093, p=.041), right shoulder flexibility (t=2.138, p=.037), right balance (t=-2.065, p=.043), and 6m walking speed (t=2.683, p=.009) were significantly improved in the experimental group. Conclusion: A twice a week, 6-week tai-chi exercise self-help management program applying laughter therapy is effective in decreasing fatigue and stiffness. Osteoarthritis is one of common chronic diseases that the patients should be required to continue self management for the rest of their life. Therefore, there is a need to develop the more effective self-help management program and nursing intervention to motivate them to maintain their own self-help management.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.14 no.4
• /
• pp.1810-1819
• /
• 2013

This study is a nonequivalent-comparison-group-quasiexperimental-study which tries to establish the effect of a laughter therapy program on the blood pressure, depression, and the life quality of elderly women in rural area. The subjects are 49 females aged 65 living in S-myeon, 24 and the other 25 of whom are put into an experimental group and a comparison group, respectively. The laughter therapy was performed to the experimental group for 60 minutes a time, twice a week for 13 weeks, from January 5 to April 5 in 2011. To find out the intervention effect, the program was analyzed by a t-test. The result showed that the therapy lowers the systolic blood pressure, relieves depression, and enhances the life quality of them. Therefore, it is expected that the therapy, a useful program contributing to the health improvement of elderly women, can be made use of nursing intervention in clinical trials or communities.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.72-80
• /
• 2016

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the effect of subjective xerostomia and salivary pH in salivary glands stimulated by laughter therapy in frail elderly women. Methods: The research used a one-group pretest-posttest design. Data were collected from July 2, 2015 to September 30, 2015. A sample of 41 frail female elderly patients was recruited at A Nursing Home in K City, Korea. We measured xerostomia and salivary pH using a questionnaire and BCP test paper (pH 5.6~7.2). Laughter therapy was given once a week for four weeks (3 items). Data were analyzed through descriptive statistics, independent t-test, ANOVA, paired t-test and Cronbach's using the SPSS 18.0 program. Results: There were significant differences in salivary pH according to oral health (t=-2.06, p<.05). There were significant differences in xerostomia (t=4.41, p<.001) and salivary pH (t=-7.94, p<.001) after salivary glands stimulated by laughter therapy. Conclusion: Salivary glands stimulated by laughter therapy improved xerostomia and salivary pH of the frail elderly. Therefore, salivary glands stimulated by laughter therapy may be useful in promoting and maintaining oral health among the frail elderly in the rapidly increasing population of old people.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
• /
• v.12 no.6
• /
• pp.501-508
• /
• 2014

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a laughter therapy on depression, of elderly. Methods: A quasi-experimental, nonequivalent control group pretest posttest design was used. Participants (n=38) included elders. Data were collected from October 1 to 22, 2013. Experimental group (n=19) participated in laughter therapy four times, once a week for 50 min per session. Questionnaires were used to measure pretest and posttest levels of depression. Results: At the end of four-week intervention, depression score (z=-2.59, p= .017) was significantly decreased in the experimental group compared to control group. Conclusion: The study results suggest that the laughter therapy is an effective intervention to reduce the depression. It seems that this program can widely be utilized as one of nursing intervention programs for the elderly.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
• /
• v.10 no.11
• /
• pp.481-489
• /
• 2019

This study was conducted to identify the effect of laughter therapy on the moods, pain and stress of the patients in a hospice ward. Participants were divided as control (23 patients), and experimental group (26 patients). Laughter therapy was provided for 5 days, and 20-30 minutes per day. Data collected on the $3^{rd}$ and $8^{th}$ day, respectively, were analyzed using SPSS win 24.0 program, Chi-square test, fisher's exact test, Independent-test, and Mann-Whitney U test. Experimental groups showed the significant differences in Mood (t= -12.88, p<.001), Pain (t= -6.38, p<.001) and Stress (z= -6.03, p<.001). Conclusion: Laughter therapy was an effective nursing intervention to relieve the negative mood condition, pain and stress on patients, as one of the daily nursing services in the hospice ward.