웃음치료 프로그램이 골관절염 노인의 통증, 우울 및 삶의 질에 미치는 효과

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a laughter therapy program on pain, depression and quality of life of older adults people with osteoarthritis. A nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design was utilized, and the subjects in this study were 60 male and female senior citizens who were diagnosed with osteoarthritis and received treatment at the out patient departments of two different hospitals that were respectively located in the city of S and the city of J. An experimental group and a control group were organized with 30 senior citizens each, and data were gathered from March 9 to 30, 2011. The laughter therapy program used in this study was prepared by modifying a 12-week laughter therapy program utilized by a hospital. A laughter therapy professor and nursing professor reviewed and modified the program, and then the program was implemented four times during a four-week period of time, once a week, 50 minutes each, by this researcher and an assistant researcher who was a first-grade laughter therapy certificate holder. To determine the effect of the laughter therapy program, a self-administered survey was conducted on the experimental group before and after the implementation of the program, group members were asked to write about their pain, depression and quality of life. As for a posttest of the control group, they were control surveyed in the same way as the experimental group four weeks after the pretest was carried out. The collected data were analyzed by the statistical package SPSS 18.0, and statistical data on Cronbach alpha coefficient, real number and percentage were obtained. Descriptive statistics was utilized to obtain another statistical data on mean, standard deviation, x²-test, Fisher's exact test, t-test were carried out. ANCOVA and paired t-test were used to verify the effect of the laughter therapy.

The findings of the study were as follows: 1) The senior citizens with osteoarthritis who participated in the laughter therapy program showed a more significant decrease in pain than their counterparts with osteoarthritis who didn't(F=11.32, p=.001). 2) The senior citizens with osteoarthritis who participated in the laughter therapy program showed a more significant decrease in depression than their counterparts with osteoarthritis who didn't(F=10.77, p=.002). 3) The senior citizens with osteoarthritis who participated in the laughter therapy program showed a more significant improvement in the quality of life than their counterparts with osteoarthritis who didn't (F=6.28, p=.015). The above mentioned findings illustrated that the laughter therapy program was effective in alleviating the pain and depression of the senior citizens with osteoarthritis and boosting their quality of life. This study may suggest the way for future research on laughter therapy programs, and it seems that this program can widely be utilized as one of nursing intervention programs for the elderly people with osteoarthritis.