The Effect of Laughter Therapy on Life Satisfaction and Loneliness

NCT03687788 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 2017/185
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 62
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Life satisfaction and loneliness are two important issues affecting the quality of life of the elderly. Older adults living in nursing homes experience the feeling of loneliness more and their life satisfaction decreases. For this reason, there is a need for an intervention that could increase the life satisfaction of the older adults and decrease their loneliness. The aim of the research was to examine the effects of laughter therapy on life satisfaction and loneliness in older adults living in a nursing home.

Conditions

Older Adults

Keywords

Laughter therapy; Loneliness; Life Satisfaction; Older adults; Nursing

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale (DJGLS) scores

  The De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale was originally developed by De Jong-Gierveld and Kamphuls (1985) and revised by De Jong Gierveld and Van Tilburg (1999). The 11-item DJGLS consists of two subscales: six negatively framed items measure emotional loneliness and five positively framed items measure social loneliness. The sum of these two subscales constitutes the general loneliness score. The scale is a Likert-type scale in which positive items are scored as 0 = yes, 1 = more or less, and 2 = no; and negative items are scored inversely as 2 = yes, 1 = more or less, and 0 = no. Total scores can range from 0 to 22, with a higher score denoting more severe loneliness. The DJGLS was tested for validity and reliability on Turkish population by Akgul and Yesilyaprak (2015), with Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient of 0.85. In the present study, Cronbach's alpha was 0.87.

  Change from Baseline De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale (DJGLS) scores at 6 weeks

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Life Satisfaction Scale (LSS) scores

  Change from Baseline Life Satisfaction Scale (LSS) scores at 6 weeks

Study Arms (2)

Intervention Group

EXPERIMENTAL

Intervention group received laughter therapy twice a week for six weeks.

Behavioral: Laughter Therapy

Control Group

NO INTERVENTION

The control group did not take part in the laughter therapy program. This group received the routine care given by the nurses in the center.

Interventions

Laughter Therapy BEHAVIORAL

Laughter therapy program was composed of four steps. The first step, which took 10 minutes, had warm-up exercises including gentle stretching and hand clapping. The second step, which included deep breathing exercises and hand clapping, took 5 minutes. The third step involved children's games and laughter exercises. In this step, the most common laughter exercises were milkshake laughter, bugi bugi laughter techniques, lion laughter, cell phone, hot soup laughter, hug laughter, bird laughter, dialogue with nonsense, speech exercises, laugh at one's own aches and pains exercises, argument laughter, brushing teeth and mouthwash exercises. The sessions included a combination of different laughter exercises. This step took 15 minutes. The last step, which included wishes and resting by breathing, took 10 minutes.

Intervention Group

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 65 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• participants had to be 65 or older and be able to maintain independence in daily activities.

You may not qualify if:

• having severe hearing or perceptual deficits that impaired communication; having dementia, Alzheimer's disease, depression, uncontrolled diabetes, hypertensive disease and surgical operations with the risk of bleeding.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Selcuk University: lead

Study Sites (1)

Selcuk University Health Science Faculty

Konya, Selcuklu, 42250, Turkey (Türkiye)

Location

Related Publications (1)

• Kuru Alici N, Zorba Bahceli P. Effects of Laughter Therapy on Life Satisfaction and Loneliness in Older Adults Living in Nursing Homes in Turkey: A Parallel Group Randomized Controlled Trial. Rehabil Nurs. 2021 Mar-Apr 01;46(2):104-112. doi: 10.1097/RNJ.0000000000000266.

  PMID: 33646727 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Personal Satisfaction

Interventions

Laughter Therapy

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavior

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Mind-Body Therapies; Complementary Therapies; Therapeutics

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: SUPPORTIVE CARE
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Asistant Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: September 24, 2018
• First Posted: September 27, 2018
• Study Start: February 26, 2018
• Primary Completion: March 5, 2018
• Study Completion: April 6, 2018
• Last Updated: September 27, 2018

Record last verified: 2018-09

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

TU (1)