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

Abstract Cancer patients experience physical, psychological, social, and spiritual challenges which are related to mental well-being. Laughter Yoga includes those laughter exercises which may enhance mental well-being in patients undergoing chemo therapy. Purpose: To determine the Impact of Laughter Yoga on Mental Well-being of Cancer Patients under Chemotherapy Methodology: This randomized, double-blind clinical trial was performed on 69 cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy in Reza Hospital in Mashhad in 1397. Patients were randomly divided into two intervention and control groups. Before chemotherapy; a daily session of 20-30 minutes of Laughter Yoga was performed for the intervention group for four days. The control and intervention group received routine self-care training. The mental well-being score was determined by the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS), in two steps before and after the completion of laughter yoga sessions. Data were analyzed by chi-square, t-test, Mann–Whitney–Wilcoxon (MWW). Findings: 46 (67.7%) patients were female. The mean age of patients in the intervention group was 49.0±9.6 and in the control group 45.2±12.6 years. Based on the obtained findings; 47.1% of intervention group, and 31.4% of the control group, had gastrointestinal cancer. The mean score of mental well-being in the post-test phase was significantly higher in the intervention group (50.0±0.89) than in the control group (47.9±10.4) (P = 0.004). In the intervention group, the mean scores of mental well-being of post-test were significantly increased (P <0.001). Implication for practice: Laughter yoga is associated with increased mental well-being in patients undergoing chemotherapy, so that is highly recommended.