Effect of Laughter Therapy on Depression and Quality of Life of the Elderly Living in Nursing Homes

Background: Mental disorders are common among the elderly with serious symptoms of depression and social isolation. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of laughter therapy (LT) on depression and quality of life (QOL) of the elderly living in Abadeh nursing homes.

Methods: This is a controlled semi-experimental study with a pre-test, post-test design. Ninety eligible ones of the elderly living in the Abadeh nursing homes and from July to September 2017, entered the study. Some of the criteria for entering the study include being over 60 years old, orientation, not having blindness and deafness, lack of physical and mental problems. After determining the intervention and control groups, the scale of depression and QOL was administered to the subjects and their scores were collected in the pre-test.

Results: Most of the study samples were in the intervention (35.55%) and control (37.77%) group in the age range of 60-69 years. In both intervention and control groups, respectively, 31.11% and 68.88% elderly were males and females. The mean scores of depression in the intervention group after LT (M = 2.57) were lower than those before the intervention (M = 6.87) [CI = -5.58-(-3.02)] and also the results of independent t-test showed a statistically significant difference before and after the intervention between the two groups (P < 0.001). The mean score of dimensions of QOL after LT was higher than that before in the intervention and there was a statistically significant difference in all dimensions with paired t-test (P < 0.001).

Conclusion: Since the implementation of this programme could improve the mental status and QOL of the elderly, this method of therapy can be used as an alternative or complementary model to enhance the health of the elderly.