Effects of Laughter Yoga Practiced by Nursing Students Before Clinical Practice

Aim: We conducted this randomized controlled study to determine the effect of laughter yoga practiced by first year nursing students before clinical practice on their perceptions of stress and meaning of life.

Background: Laughter yoga has a positive effect on the person's mental/general health, life satisfaction and psychological well-being and enables the person to cope with stress.

Design: In this experimental randomized and controlled study including a control group, we administered a pre-test, post-test one and post-test two to the participating students.

Methods: We conducted the study with 45 first year nursing students in the intervention group, and 45 first year nursing students in the control group. The students in the intervention group took part in eight sessions of laughter yoga for four weeks, twice a week. We used the Descriptive Information Form, Perceived Stress Scale, and Meaning and Purpose of Life Scale to collect the study data.

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Key information

Conditions

Healthy Behavior Communication Laughter Nonverbal Communication Stress

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Manisa Celal Bayar University

Manisa, Yunusemre, 45140, Turkey (Türkiye)

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

Who did not have any diagnosed psychiatric diseases,
Who had not done laughter yoga and / or did not have any clinical experience previously were included

Exclusion criteria

Who withdrew from the study at any stage,
Those who did not participate in the yoga sessions regularly
Those who used another relaxation method during this period,
Those who took antidepressants,
Those who had a chronic cough and / or urinary incontinence,
Those who underwent surgery in the last 3 months (abdominal surgery, uncontrolled surgery, glaucoma, hernia),
Those who had neurological diseases such as epilepsy, multiple sclerosis,
Those who were unwilling to participate in the study,
Those who had neurological disorders,
Those who lost one of their loved ones in the last 6 months were excluded from the research.

Treatment and study plan

Laughter therapy

Other

We used laughter yoga to investigate the potential effects on first year nursing students' whose in the preclinical period of education.

Primary outcomes

Meaning and Purpose of Life

Time frame: four weeks

Meaning of life of students was assessed with 17 items Meaning and Purpose of Life Scale. The options for the positive statements are scored as follows: strongly agree (5), agree (4), undecided (3), disagree (2), and strongly disagree (1). The negative statements are reverse scored. The options for the negative statements are scored as follows: strongly agree (1), agree (2), undecided (3), disagree (4) and strongly disagree (5).While the lowest possible score that can be obtained from the scale is 17, the highest possible score is 85. A high score indicates that the person's perception of the meaning and purpose of life is more positive whereas a low score indicates the person's perception of the meaning and purpose of life is more negative
Stress

Time frame: four weeks

Stress of students was assessed with Perceived Stress Scale. Responses given to the items are rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from 0 to 4 (0- Never, 1-Almost Never, 2-Sometimes, 3-Quite often, 4-Very Often). Items 4, 5, 7 and 8 containing positive statements are reverse scored. The minimum and maximum scores that can be obtained from the PSS are 0 and 40, respectively. The higher the score is the higher the level of stress is.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Manisa Celal Bayar University

Other

Registry information

Official study title

Effects of Laughter Yoga Practiced by First Year Nursing Students Before Clinical Practice on Their Perceptions of Stress and Meaning of Life: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Important dates

Study start: 2023
Primary completion: 2023
Study completion: 2023
First posted: Sep 21, 2023
Registry last updated: Sep 21, 2023

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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