The Effects of Laughter Therapy on Mood State and Self-Esteem in Cancer Patients Undergoing Radiation Therapy: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: To investigate whether laughter therapy lowers total mood disturbance scores and improves self-esteem scores in patients with cancer. Design/Setting: Randomized controlled trial in a radio-oncology outpatient setting. Patients: Sixty-two patients were enrolled and randomly assigned to the experimental group ( n=33) or the wait list control group ( n=29). Interventions: Three laughter therapy sessions lasting 60 minutes each. Outcome measures: Mood state and self-esteem. Results: The intention-to-treat analysis revealed a significant main effect of group: Experimental group participants reported a 14.12-point reduction in total mood disturbance, while the wait list control group showed a 1.21-point reduction ( p=0.001). The per-protocol analysis showed a significant main effect of group: The experimental group reported a 18.86-point decrease in total mood disturbance, while controls showed a 0.19-point reduction ( p<0.001). The self-esteem of experimental group was significantly greater than that of the wait list control group ( p=0.044). Conclusions: These results indicate that laughter therapy can improve mood state and self-esteem and can be a beneficial, noninvasive intervention for patients with cancer in clinical settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]