The Effect of Laughter Yoga Applied to Nursing Students on Exam Anxiety and Spirituality

NCT06943430 | Active Not Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: KKU-SBF-HT-01
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 36
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This study is planned as a randomized controlled trial to determine the effect of laughter yoga on the exam anxiety and spirituality levels of nursing students. The research will be conducted with 100 second-year nursing students between 04.2025 and 06.2025. Students who meet the inclusion criteria will be randomized and divided into two groups: the experimental group (n=36) and the control group (n=36). All participating students will be administered the "Demographic Characteristics Form," "Exam Anxiety Scale," and "Spirituality Scale" (pre-test). The experimental group will undergo laughter yoga sessions twice a week for 4 weeks, totaling 8 sessions. The control group will only complete the "Demographic Characteristics Form," "Exam Anxiety Scale," and "Spirituality Scale" (pre-test). No intervention will be applied to the control group. After the laughter yoga sessions are completed, both the experimental and control groups will complete the "Demographic Characteristics Form," "Exam Anxiety Scale," and "Spirituality Scale" (post-test). The collected data will be analyzed using SPSS 22 software.

Conditions

Exam Stress; Anxiety; Spirituality

Keywords

laughter yoga; exam stress; anxiety; spirituality

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Change in exam anxiety levels as measured by the Test Anxiety Scale

  Exam anxiety will be assessed using a validated Test Anxiety Scale before and after the 4-week laughter yoga intervention. The mean score difference between pre-test and post-test will be analyzed using paired samples t-test.

  Baseline and post-intervention (Week 4)

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Change in spirituality levels as measured by the Spirituality Scale

  Baseline and post-intervention (Week 4)

Study Arms (2)

intervention

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants in the intervention group received laughter yoga sessions twice a week for a total of four weeks.

Other: laughter yoga

Control

NO INTERVENTION

No application was made to the control group, standard procedure was followed.

Interventions

laughter yoga OTHER

Participants in the intervention group received laughter yoga sessions twice a week for a total of four weeks.

intervention

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 30 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• Being a 2nd-year student in the Nursing Department
• Able to speak and understand Turkish
• Voluntarily agreeing to participate in the study
• No visual or hearing impairments
• No history of psychiatric illness
• No current or past use of psychotropic medication

You may not qualify if:

• Refusal to participate in the study
• Inability to speak or understand Turkish
• Diagnosed psychiatric illness and/or use of psychotropic agents
• Previous participation in laughter yoga
• Physical limitations or respiratory problems preventing yoga practice
• Difficulty in performing breathing exercises due to conditions such as septum deviation
• Abdominal surgery within the past 6 months
• Drop-out Criteria:
• Failure to attend any of the laughter yoga sessions
• Receiving a new diagnosis that contraindicates laughter yoga during the 4-week intervention period

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Kırıkkale University: lead

Study Sites (1)

Kirikkale University

Kırıkkale, Turkey, 71450, Turkey (Türkiye)

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Anxiety Disorders

Interventions

Laughter Therapy

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Mental Disorders

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Mind-Body Therapies; Complementary Therapies; Therapeutics

Study Officials

• Hande Tiftikci

  Kırıkkale University

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: DOUBLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT, OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Masking Details: In this study, the data were entered by someone other than the researcher, and statistical analysis was performed by a person other than the researcher. In the study, laughter yoga was applied to the participants in the experimental group. Since laughter yoga is an intervention that can be clearly recognized by the participants, they were aware of which group they were in. This means that blinding of the participants was not possible. Additionally, since the researcher was the person implementing the intervention, both the participants and the researcher were aware of the intervention. Therefore, blinding was not included in this study.
• Purpose: OTHER
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Student Principal Investigator(Under Supervision of Prof. Dr. Hüsna Özveren

Model Details: A randomized controlled trial

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: April 10, 2025
• First Posted: April 24, 2025
• Study Start: February 24, 2025
• Primary Completion: April 27, 2026
• Study Completion: April 27, 2026
• Last Updated: December 3, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-11

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

TU (1)