The effect of laughter therapy on the quality of life of nursing home residents

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Abstract
Aims and objectives: To evaluate the effect of Laughter therapy on the quality of life of nursing home residents.Background: By improving the quality of life of residents living in nursing homes and allowing them to have a healthier existence, their lives can be extended. Therefore, interventions impacting the quality of life of older adults are of critical importance.Design: Quasi‐experimental design.Method: The study was conducted between 2 March – 25 May 2015. The experimental group was composed of 32 nursing home residents from one nursing home, while the control group consisted of 33 nursing home residents from another nursing home in the capital city of Turkey. Laughter therapy was applied with nursing home residents of the experimental group two days per week (21 sessions in total). A socio‐demographic form and the Short‐Form Health Survey (SF‐36) were used for data collection.Results: After the laughter therapy intervention, general and subscales (physical functioning, role‐physical, bodily pain, general health, vitality, social functioning, role‐emotional and spiritual health) quality‐of‐life scores of residents in the experimental group significantly increased in comparison with the pretest.Conclusion: Laughter therapy improved the quality of life of nursing home residents. Therefore, nursing home management should integrate laughter therapy into health care and laughter therapy should be provided as a routine nursing intervention.Relevance to clinical practice: The results indicated that the laughter therapy programme had a positive effect on the quality of life of nursing home residents. Nurses can use laughter therapy as an intervention to improve quality of life of nursing home residents.

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