The Effect of Laughter therapy on Interpersonal Relations of Person's Affected by Hansen's Disease

Lee, Kwan Hee; Ko, Seon Hyung; Hwang, Yeoun Kyoung

Abstract

This study was attempted to explore the effect of laughter therapy on Hansen people's Interpersonal Relations, certify the effect, and use that as a useful means to improve Hansen people's interpersonal ability. The research method, Hansen people receiving outpatient and admission medical examination and treatment at the research institute of Korea Hansen Welfare Association located in Euiwang-si, Gyeonggi-do, and Hansen People residing at Razaro Village, and divided 60 people approving participation at research into 30 as an experimental group and 30 as a control group, and conducted a questionnaire survey. The sex was distributed to 30 males, and 30 females, and this study conducted a laughter therapy to 30 of the experimental group over 8 times in total by 60 minutes for 2 weeks, and for the collected data, analyzed changes to interpersonal relations revealed before and after conducting the laughter therapy program using IBM/SPSS 20.0 program. The major findings of this study are as follows. Verification of effects of a laughter therapy on Hansen people' interpersonal relations indicated that the interpersonal scores of the experimental group statistically came out high, so the laughter therapy is effective in improving Hansen people' interpersonal relations. {Pre-test (M = 3.21) and post-test (M = 3.79) of the results showed a statistically significant difference (p<.001)}. It clarified that the laughter therapy is effective improving males' and females' interpersonal relations, where it has a higher effect on female Hansen people than male people. {(males : pretest (M = 2.93) and post-test (M = 3.48), females : pre-test (M = 3.45) and post-test (M = 4.07}