Laughter and humour for personal development: A systematic scoping review of the evidence

Hearing laughter: a prescription for anxiety relief

Anxiety can have adverse effects on cognition such as impairing test performance or restricting working memory. One way of reducing anxiety is through humor, and the present research investigated if the perception of laughter, which is often seen as a reaction to humor, could impact self-reported anxiety. Participants completed the STAI battery containing subscales for both state and trait anxiety before and after one of three manipulations: a laughter sounds rating task, a neutral sounds rating task, or a working memory span task. Results showed that perceiving laughter decreased both state and trait anxiety, taking a working memory test increased state anxiety, and perceiving neutral sounds had no effect on either type of anxiety. These findings are interpreted as evidence that the positive emotions induced by hearing laughter help to regulate anxiety by undoing arousal, even when negative emotions are not present.

How changes in laughter predict work engagement and workaholism: reciprocal relationships among Japanese employees

Laughter is related to better well-being in daily life. Previous cross-sectional research among employees showed a positive relationship between laughter and work-related well-being (i.e., work engagement). However, longitudinal and even bidirectional relationships have not been yet explored. This study thus investigated the longitudinal and reciprocal relationships of laughter, with work engagement and workaholism as positive and negative aspects of work-related well-being. Specifically, we conducted two-wave web-based surveys among Japanese employees via an Internet survey company with a one-year interval, and 855 valid data were analyzed. The hypotheses were then tested using structural equation modeling. The results showed that increases in laughter during the previous year were positively and negatively related to future work engagement and workaholism, respectively. In addition, through changes in laughter, the initial work engagement led to future work engagement (gain cycle), whereas initial workaholism led to future workaholism (loss cycle). These findings suggest that laughter and work-related well-being influence each other reciprocally rather than unidirectionally. This underlines the importance of studying reversed as well as regular causal effects in the relationship between laughter and employee well-being.

A Pilot Study Investigating the Feasibility, Reach-Out, Acceptability, Fidelity, and Efficacy of a Group Laughie Prescription on the Well-Being of Earthquake Survivors in Türkiye

Mental health and quality of life may be negatively impacted among earthquake survivors. This pilot study evaluates the use of and reports on the preliminary effects of participating in a 1-minute Laughie (Laugh Intentionally Everyday) Laughter Prescription on well-being in earthquake survivors in Türkiye. A Group Laughie intervention was delivered using a within-subject (n = 20; M age = 34.78 ± 6.65; 14 female) pretest-posttest design. Group Laughies were delivered once a day over 2 weeks with participants prescribed to further laugh with the Group Laughie recording twice a day, resulting in 3 minutes of intentional laughter daily. Data were collected using a range of questionnaires to track feasibility, reach-out, acceptability, fidelity, and efficacy, including Laughie Checklists, a Post-Intervention Perceived Impact Measure (PIPIM) in the form of the Positive Psychology One-off Post-intervention measure (PPOP), and the World Health Organization (WHO-5) well-being index. Results indicated high intervention fidelity using Laughie Checklists and positive post-intervention perceived impact using the 11-point Likert-scaled PPOP (x = 7.62 ± 1.44). After the intervention, a statistically significant difference (p < 0.001) was found between WHO-5 well-being index pretest scores (x = 2.16 ± 1.00) and post-test (x = 4.08 ± 0.24). This study demonstrated beneficial effects of the Laughie prescription on earthquake survivors. This is the first intervention to explore an online Group Laughie intervention. Health professionals and especially nurses can use the 1-minute Laughie prescription in the form of a Group Laughie intervention to increase the well-being of individuals and improve perceived mental health.

Humor in professional coaching: a literature review and research agenda

Introduction

Extensive research has explored the incorporation of humor in therapy, revealing its potential positive effects on clients' mental well-being and personal growth. However, limited research exists on how coaching could benefit from humor as an intervention and how its utilization impacts the interaction processes and outcomes for both the coachee and coach. Therefore, our research focuses on the use and effects of spontaneous humor within professional dialogues. This paper aims to extract insights from academic literature on humor in adjacent fields and apply these insights to the context of coaching.

Methods

This paper offers implications for coaching theory and practice, alongside a proposed research agenda. The initial phase involves analyzing reviews on humor in professional contexts, and coaching. Secondly, following the PRISMA guidelines for review, we identified 13 empirical studies, which address the role of humor in counseling, psychotherapy, and mentoring.

Results and discussion

Our findings suggest that humor serves as a valuable tool for establishing and deepening the working alliance, fostering adaptive coping mechanisms in clients, and enhancing the cognitive and behavioral process. Moreover, humor is shown to be advantageous for professionals in navigating challenging client relationships. These findings hold significance for the realm of coaching practice as well. In light of these insights, we propose the integration of humor use in education toolkits for coaching professionals.

Frequency of laughter and work engagement among Japanese employees: a cross-sectional study during COVID-19

Laughter is associated with better health and occurs most frequently during casual conversations. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has impaired social interactions, which may have reduced the frequency of laughter and led to poor well-being among workers. This study investigated the relationship between laughter frequency and work engagement among Japanese employees during the pandemic. We conducted a web-based survey among Japanese employees (20-59 yr) via an internet survey company in December 2021; 1,058 valid data were analysed. Of the respondents, 65.1% laughed at least once a week, but the frequency was much lower than that reported in previous studies conducted before the pandemic. Additionally, those who laughed at least once a week had significantly higher work engagement scores than those who laughed less than once a month. Although employees reduced their frequency of laughter during the pandemic, a certain frequency of laughter may be important for maintaining their work engagement.

The Effect of Laughter Therapy on Perceived Stress and Quality of Life in Persons with Schizophrenia: A Mixed Method Pilot Study

This study was planned to examine the effects of laughter therapy on the perceived stress and quality of life level of persons with schizophrenia and their views on laughter therapy. This study is a mixed-methods pilot study conducted using a quasi-experimental design based on the pretest-posttest model. Of the participants 68% (n = 17) were male, 92% (n = 23) were single, 56% (14) were high school graduates, 60% (n = 15) were unemployed, 60% (n = 15) lived with their parents, 88% (22) had been receiving treatment for schizophrenia for more than 10 years. The difference between the pretest and post-test means was not found to be significant in participants' perceived stress (p > 0.05), and the difference between the pretest and post-test means of the Schizophrenia Quality of Life Scale's Interpersonal Relations, Instrumental Role, and Intrapsychicv (mental findings) subscales was found to be statistically significant (p < 0.05). The main themes of laughter therapy among persons with schizophrenia in the focus group interviews were found to be optimism, coping, health, sociability, motivation, awareness, and functionality. Laughter therapy was found to increase the quality of life of persons with schizophrenia, not affect perceived stress, and positively affect optimism, coping, health, sociability, motivation, awareness, and functionality levels. The researchers recommend using laughter therapy to improve the quality of life of people with schizophrenia during their rehabilitation.

The values in action character strengths model: a resource for people in addiction recovery

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine the Values in Action (VIA) character strengths profile of people in addiction recovery, to identify which strengths are meaningfully represented in this population. This was compared with the generalised profile of a normative population to identify the differentiating features. Reasons for the profile variance and the significance this has for addiction recovery have also been explored.

Design/methodology/approach

An independent group design was adopted using purposive sampling. This saw participants (n = 100) complete the VIA Inventory of Strengths-P assessment to establish a character strengths profile for people in addiction recovery. To identify the differences in this profile, a mean score and rank order comparison was conducted, using data taken from a normative population. Additional exploratory analysis was conducted to establish if there were any significant differences in the character strength profile of males and females.

Findings

In descending order, the top five ranked strengths were kindness, humour, honesty, fairness and teamwork. The lesser five strengths in the profile were spirituality, zest, perseverance, prudence and self-regulation. A distinguishing feature was the presence of humour as a top five strength for people in addiction recovery. The existence of teamwork also deviated from the generalised normative population. There were two strengths shown to have a meaningfully higher score for females, teamwork and love. This did not change the strengths present in the overall top five for males or females, however.

Originality/value

This study contributes useful knowledge to the understanding of character strengths in addiction recovery. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time character strengths have been examined in a sample of people in addiction recovery.

"A laugh a day keeps the failure away": The role of self-enhancing humor and host country community embeddedness in career satisfaction of dual-earner expatriate couples

For dual-earner expatriate couples (DEECs), it is particularly challenging to achieve career satisfaction after relocating to another country and the associated career transitions. While studies have addressed the strenuous career pathways of individuals in DEECs, the identification and empirical analysis of resources that may contribute to the attainment of career satisfaction remains a desideratum. This research investigates the impact of self-enhancing humor and community embeddedness on individual career satisfaction and the crossover effects of humor on that of the partners in DEECs. Using data from 109 DEECs in Europe and Actor-Partner Interdependent Model (APIM), the results show that embeddedness in one's community mediated the relationship between humor and career satisfaction. The study also unfolded the crossover effects of humor within couples: Men's humor promoted their female partner's community embeddedness, which, in turn, promoted women's career satisfaction. This study entails fruitful implications for future research on DEECs and practical recommendations for relevant stakeholders to facilitate the careers of DEECs.

The challenges of assessing the impact of a comedy programme aimed at improving the mental well-being of young people

Assessing the impact of community-based programmes presents many challenges. One difficulty encountered is how to develop appropriate research methods to capture the impact of the work while also meeting the demands of external funders. For almost two decades, the charity organisation The Comedy Trust (TCT) have attempted to navigate these challenges. In 2018, TCT had the opportunity to work with a university-based researcher to develop their approaches to research. We aimed to explore what happens when you move away from quantifiable predetermined methods to take a more participatory approach to work alongside the participants of the programme. We decided to focus on their Feeling Funny Youth programme, which is aimed at young people to support their mental health and well-being. This paper is a case study of how the programme worked with a group of young people based within a youth organisation. In this paper, we offer a comparison of the standardised tool adopted by TCT with the development of more creative and participatory methods developed in collaboration with young people who participated in the programme. We offer an insight into what can be gained by adopting more creative and participatory methods to capture the experiences of young people, as this enabled us to really hear the important messages they want to share.

Facilitating the planning and evaluation of narrative intervention reviews: Systematic Transparency Assessment in Intervention Reviews (STAIR)

Narrative reviews offer a flexible way to report intervention results and comprise the majority of reviews published in top medical journals. However variations in their transparency pose evaluation challenges, compromising their value and potentially resulting in research wastage. Calls have been made to reduce the number of narrative reviews published. Others argue narrative reviews provide an important platform and should even be placed on an equal footing to systematic reviews. We believe narrative intervention reviews can provide a vital perspective when transparent, and thus support Systematic Transparency Assessment in Intervention Reviews (STAIR). This research evaluates the transparency of 172 health-related narrative and literature reviews (K = 172), by assessing how they communicate information about the interventions they review. Eight points supporting transparency, relating to sample sizes, traceability, article numbers, and references, were assessed. Half of the reviews reported on at least four of the eight points, but 24% reported on none. Only 56% of the reviews clearly communicated full references. The STAIR* (Sample sizes, Traceability, Article numbers, Intervention numbers, References*) checklist comprises five sections, and nine points. It is proposed as a convenient tool to address STAIR and complement existing review guidelines to assist authors in planning, reviewers in evaluating, and scholars in utilising narrative reviews. The objectives of STAIR* are to: 1) encourage narrative review transparency and readability, 2) facilitate the incorporation of narrative reviews results into other research; and 3) enrich narrative review methodology with a checklist to guide, and evaluate, intervention reviews.

Evaluation of a Humor Training for Patients with Chronic Pain: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Background

Humor and laughter are positively associated with psychological as well as with physical well-being. As there is little research examining to what extent patients suffering from chronic pain could benefit from a humor intervention, the goal of this study was to develop a pain-specific humor training and to evaluate its feasibility and effectiveness as component of regular, multimodal pain therapy.

Patients and Methods

Patients from inpatient treatment groups for chronic pain in a German hospital were randomly assigned to the training group (final n = 62) and the control group (final n = 65). The training consisted of four sessions that were implemented in the usual therapy throughout two weeks. Outcomes were divided into primary (perceived current pain intensity and depression) and secondary ones (quality of life impairment by pain, cheerfulness, and self-enhancing humor) and were assessed prior to and after intervention.

Results

Results showed improvements in all outcomes for both groups. For primary outcomes, a trend for a greater reduction in current pain intensity was found for the training group compared to the control group (p = 0.060, η²_p = 0.02), as well as, for secondary outcomes, a trend for greater reduction of quality of life impairment by pain (p = 0.079, η²_p = 0.02) and a trend for greater increase in self-enhancing humor (p = 0.086, η²_p = 0.02). Depression and cheerfulness remained unaffected. Feedback indicated feasibility of the training within multimodal therapy, showing overall acceptance as well as providing specific suggestions for improvement.

Conclusion

As the first study evaluating a specific humor training for patients with chronic pain within a randomized controlled trial, its results are promising regarding an additional contribution that humor interventions can make towards multimodal pain therapy.

Prescribing laughter to ameliorate mental health, sleep, and wellbeing in university students: A protocol for a feasibility study of a randomised controlled trial

Objectives

This research is the first study to investigate the potential effects of a laughter prescription on both psychological health and objective sleep parameters in university students. The primary objective is to evaluate the feasibility of prescribing laughter to inform a larger randomised controlled trial. Secondary objectives are to assess if a two-week laughter prescription improves subjective and objective sleep outcomes, wellbeing, and/or psychological health outcomes.

Trial design

To assess the feasibility of a randomised controlled trial for laughter prescription in relation to sleep, psychological health, and wellbeing. Forty university students will be recruited and randomised to one of two conditions (control/experimental).

Methods

Wrist actigraphy and sleep diaries will be used to estimate sleep outcomes during a one-week baseline testing phase and across the two-week intervention. The experimental group will be shown how to record a Laughie (a 1-min recording of their joyful laughter on their smartphone) and prescribed to laugh with it three times daily for 14 days (the control group will only track sleep). All participants will complete the WHO (Five) Well-being Index, and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale pre- and post-intervention. The CONSORT checklist, and the Feasibility, Reach-out, Acceptability, Maintenance, Efficacy, Implementation, and Tailorabilty (FRAME-IT) framework will guide intervention planning and evaluation. Participant interviews will be analysed using Differential Qualitative Analysis (DQA).

Results

The feasibility of a two-week laughter prescription in university students and its impact on sleep, wellbeing, and/or psychological health outcomes will be assessed.

Conclusions

Zayed University Research Ethics Committee approved the study in July 2019. The research will be completed following protocol publication.

Trial registration

ClinicalTrials.gov. ID: NCT04171245. Date of registration: 18 October 2019.

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First study to explore the feasibility of a laughter only prescription for university students.

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First assessment of the impact of laughter on psychological health and objective sleep outcomes.

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A combination of wrist actigraphy and the Laughie enables clear measurements of sleep and laughter.

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Provision of a detailed description of the Laughie and how to use it and prescribe it.