The Impact of Laughter Yoga on Mental Well-being of Cancer Patients under Chemotherapy

Mohammad Namazinia

Abstract

The Impact of Laughter Yoga on Mental Well-being of Cancer Patients under Chemotherapy

It is generally accepted thatcancer affects the concept of mental well- being by changing the physical, psychological, spiritual, and social dimensions of the patient's life. Laughter yoga as one of the complementary therapies may promote mental well- being in patients undergoing chemotherapy. This study aimed to determine the effect of laughter yoga on the mental well- being of cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. This randomized controlled trial was conducted on 69 cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy at Reza Medical Center, Mashhad, Iran, in 2018. The intervention group was subjected to four 20- 30 min sessions of laughter yoga prior to chemotherapy. On the other hand, the control group received routine self-care training. The mental well-being scores were measured using the Warwick- Edinburgh Mental Well- being Scale (WEMWBS) before and after the laughter yoga sessions. Data were analyzed in SPSS software (version 20) using an independent t-test, Mann-Whitney test, Wilcoxon test, and repeated measures ANOVA. According to the results,the mean age values of the patients were 49.0±9.6 and 45.2± 12.6 years in the intervention and control groups, respectively. Regarding the independent t-test results, the mean post-test WEMWBS score in the intervention group (50.0± 8.9) was significantly higher than that in the control group ( 47.9±10.4, P=0.004). Moreover, the repeated measures ANOVA showed a significant increase in the mean post-test WEMWBS score in the intervention group (P<0.001). Laughter yoga can promote the mental well- being of patients undergoing chemotherapy; therefore, its clinical applications are recommended in this study.