The Effect of Laughter Therapy on Depression, Anxiety, and Stress in Patients with Breast Cancer Undergoing Radiotherapy

Kim, So Hee; Kim, Yean Hee; Kim, Hwa Jung; Lee, Soon Haeng; Yu, Si On

Abstract

PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to investigate the of laughter therapy on depression, anxiety, and stress among patients underwent radiotherapy.
METHODS
Participants in the study were comprised of 60 breast cancer outpatients who received radiotherapy. Thirty-one of the patients were assigned in the experimental group and the other 29 patients made up the control group. Laughter therapy was consisted of the delivery of information and active motion resulting in laughter. We provided laughter therapy 4 times for 2 weeks. Each session lasted 60 min. The experimental group received laughter therapy intervention as a group. An average attendance frequency per person was 2.7. To evaluate the effect of laughter therapy, the degrees of depression and anxiety were measured by Hospital Anxiety and Depression (HAD) and stress was measured by the Brief Encounter Psychosocial Instrument (BEPSI). Data analysis included a 2-test, t-test, and Fisher's exact test using SPSS 12.0 and SAS 8.0.
RESULTS
There was significant decrease in the degrees of depression, anxiety, and stress in the experimental group compared to those in the control group (p<.01, p=.04, and p<.01, respectively).
CONCLUSION
This study provides evidence that laughter therapy is an effective intervention in improving depression, anxiety, and stress in breast cancer patients.