Study On Humor Therapy In Nursing Home Residents

Because of ageing,disease,less social participation and loneliness and monotony of life,there are many negative emotional problems in nursing home residents.Thereinto,the problems of anxiety and depression are prominent.Studies have shown that negative emotions can further affect the cognitive function and sleep quality of the aged,leading to a decline in subjective well-being and quality of life,as well as affecting the health status of the aged.In recent years,foreign studies have shown that humor therapy has a better effect on the psychological health of the aged,while domestic studies on humor therapy in nursing home residents are few and the results are limited.Objective:This study focuses on the mental and psychological needs of the aged,formulates a localized humor intervention program for nursing home residents,and explores the effects of humor therapy on depression,anxiety,subjective well-being,cognitive function,sleep quality and quality of life of the aged in nursing homes,aiming at providing new ideas and methods for improving the negative emotions of the aged and promoting the health status and quality of life of the aged and providing reference for the related activities of the nursing homes.Methods:This study was a quasi-experimental controlled trial.From April 2018 to September 2018,the residents in two nursing homes in Changchun City were selected by purposive sampling method as the humor group and the control group,respectively,with 37 people in each group.Humor therapy was given to the humor group once a week for 60 minutes each time and the intervention lasted for 8 weeks,while there was no intervention in the control group.Questionnaires were conducted at baseline,8 weeks and 16 weeks and the survey tools include Social Demographic Questionnaire,Geriatric Depression Scale(GDS),Hamilton Anxiety Scale(HAMA),Memorial University of Newfoundland Happiness Scale(MUNSH),Mini-mental State Examination(MMSE),Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index(PSQI)and 36-item Short-Form Health Survey(SF-36).The data of participants who completed all the experimental schemes were analyzed by per-protocol analysis(PP),and the intention to treat analysis(ITT)was used to analyze the data of all participants who participated in at least one intervention section and data collection.Epidata 3.1 was selected to double input the data while SPSS19.0 was used to analyze the data.T-test,Mann-Whitney test and Chi-squared test were used to compare the demographic data and baseline data of participants and the effects of humor therapy on depression,anxiety,subjective well-being,cognitive function,sleep quality and quality of life in the aged were investigated by repeated measurement analysis of variance.Results:1.Intervention program implementation: This study designed a preliminary intervention program by consulting literature,field investigation and expert consultation,and determined a humor intervention program with five main links after pre-experimental verification.In the whole,91.89% of the 37 participants in the humor group participated in all eight humor interventions,and all the residents who were unable to participate was because of objective reasons such as going out and illness.Researchers observed that the residents had a high degree of participation in activities and a good feedback,which indicated that the humor intervention program developed in this study was suitable for the aged of nursing homes in China.2.The results of demographic data comparison showed that there was no significant difference in gender,age,educational level,marital status,economic level,chronic diseases and religious beliefs between the two groups(P>0.05);the scores of GDS,HAMA,MUNSH,MMSE,PSQI and SF-36 at baseline level showed that there was no significant difference in depression,anxiety,subjective well-being,cognitive function and SF-36,sleep quality and quality of life(P>0.05)between the two groups,which means they are comparable.3.The results of within-group analysis in the humor group showed that compared with the baseline,the outcomes of depression,anxiety,subjective well-being,cognitive function,sleep quality and quality of life of the aged in the humor group were significantly improved at 8 and 16 weeks and the difference was statistically significant(P<0.001).4.The results of within-group analysis in the control group showed that compared with the baseline,the outcomes of depression,anxiety,subjective well-being,cognitive function and sleep quality of the residents in the control group were no significant difference at 8 and 16 weeks;the difference of quality of life was statistically significant at 16 weeks.5.The results of comparisons between groups showed that the levels of depression,anxiety and subjective well-being of the aged in the humor group were significantly improved compared with those in the control group.Furthermore,the improvement of anxiety lasted until the follow-up stage and the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05)while there was no statistical difference in cognitive function,sleep quality and quality of life between the two groups.Conclusions:1.The humor intervention program developed in this study is suitable for nursing home residents in China.2.Humor therapy can effectively reduce the level of depression,anxiety and improve the subjective well-being of nursing home residents,and the effect of intervention on the improvement of anxiety has a certain sustainability.3.Humor therapy has certain potential application in improving cognitive function,sleep quality and quality of life of nursing home residents.4.Humor therapy is simple,safe,effective and interesting,with high participation of the aged.It is of great significance to applicate the humor therapy rationally in the nursing homes for improving the physical and mental health of the aged in China.