1greengross G (2013) Humor and Aging-a Mini-review Gerontology 59(5) 448-453
Humour Training Program on Sense of Humour amongst Older Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Yadollah A. Momtazone , Mobarake Ansari2, * , Mahshid Foroughantwo
1 Iranian Enquiry Center on Aging, Academy of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Islamic republic of iran
ii Malaysian Research Institute on Ageing (MyAgeing), Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia
Article Information
Article History:
Received Date: 30/04/2020
Revision Received Date: 28/08/2020
Acceptance Engagement: 02/10/2020
Electronic publication date: 18/12/2020
Collection year: 2020
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© 2020 Momtaz et al.
open up-access license: This is an open access article distributed nether the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-By 4.0), a copy of which is available at: (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode). This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Introduction:
Several studies have a well-documented positive association betwixt sense of humour and physical and mental well-beingness in later life. However, there is prove to point that humor declines with age. This written report was conducted to examine humor training program on the sense of sense of humor among older adults.
Methods:
This customs-based randomized controlled trial study was conducted in 2019. In that location were eighteen older adults in the intervention group and 20 older adults in the control group. The intervention group received the vii Humor Habits Program in eight training sessions, whereas the control group was waitlisted. The Multidimensional Sense of Humour Scale (MSHS) was used to measure the sense of humour before and later the intervention. A series of paired samples t-tests and difference-in-differences arroyo using IBM SPSS Version 23.0 were conducted to assess changes from pre-test to post-test. The significance level of p ≤ .05 was considered for the statistical assay.
Results and Discussion:
The hateful age of the participants in the intervention and control groups was 66.50, (SD=half dozen.14) and 67.60, (SD= 5.64) years, respectively. The results of a series of paired samples t-tests revealed a statistically significant increment in the full score of sense of humor from pre-exam (M =77.28, SD = 13.62) to post-test (M=101.eleven, SD=17.06), (t= -6.77, p<.001), in intervention grouping. Other paired samples t-tests showed statistically significant changes from pre-test to post-test for subscales of humor including enjoyment of humour (t= -4.59, p<.001), laughter (t= -seven.83, p<.001), verbal humour (t= -4.73, p<.001), finding humor in everyday life (t= -4.19, p<.001), laughing at yourself (t= -6.36, p<.01), and sense of humor nether stress (t= -two.54, P≤.05) in intervention group. Moreover, the results of the departure-in-differences approach revealed a significant increase in the sense of humor for the intervention group compared to the control group (F=43.54, p<.001). No statistically significant changes were observed in any effect variables in the command group.
Conclusion:
The results of this study provided support that the sense of humour tin can exist improved using a preparation program in later life.
Keywords: Aged, Humor, Sense of humor habits program, Islamic republic of iran, Older adults, Randomized controlled trial.
i. INTRODUCTION
According to the Un, at that place are currently around 962 million people aged 60 years and in a higher place in the globe, comprising thirteen% of the global population. Information technology is projected that the number of older people in the world will reach 1.4 billion by 2030, 2.1 billion by 2050, and rise to 3.1 billion by 2100, with a growing charge per unit of almost 3% per year [ane]. Islamic republic of iran, with 9.three pct older adults anile 60 years and over in 2016, similar many other countries around the globe, is heading towards declining fertility rates combined with improvements in life expectancy [2]. Every bit the population ages, identifying novel ways to maintain and promote the well-existence of older adults is imperative.
Co-ordinate to the gerontological and geriatric literature, one of the most of import contributing factors to older adults' well-being is a sense of humour. Information technology has been defined in the literature as a cerebral ability to remember, create and understand jokes, an appreciation of humor, a tendency to laugh, a habitual cheerfulness, and a coping strategy [3].
The sense of humour has 3 meanings. A person is humorous if: 1- people laughed at what he/she does; two- he/she laughs a lot and is easily amused; 3- he/she narrates funny stories and amuses others [iv]. Moreover, humor refers to the willingness to experience or limited what is amusing and funny [5].
In that location is a growing trunk of evidence which shows that humour improves physical and mental wellness, and enhances a positive worldview [vi-9]. It has been considered as the near natural and cost-costless method of reducing stress, feet, and tension. It creates psychological, emotional, and physiological changes that result in people having control over their lives [x]. The results of a study conducted by Morse et al. [11] to examine the effect of improvisation comedy on healthy older adults emerged the common themes including increased positivity, increased sense of comfort and ease with the unexpected, a sense of self-development and self-awareness, and a feeling of acceptance past their social group. The authors stated that humor combats several common geriatric conditions, such every bit depression, stress, and isolation. The other studies have documented that sense of humor is a health-protecting cerebral coping resources [9] that increases the probability of survival into retirement [12] and assists in the process of crumbling, particularly in improving health, reducing stress, and improving psychological well-beingness and life satisfaction amongst older adults [ten]. The studies take examined the issue of humor on older adults, which found that sense of humor may play a role in alleviating death anxiety [thirteen], providing a sense of hopefulness [fourteen], reducing pain and providing a sense of camaraderie [15], and improving older adults' mental attitude about the aging process [10]. Thus, it tin be found from the literature that sense of sense of humour not only induces positive emotions, just too it may help to reduce negative emotions and stress [eight].
Although the positive event of humor on older adults has been documented by several studies, unfortunately, it should exist noted that in that location is testify to point that ability to produce, appreciate, and embrace sense of humour declines with age [12, 16-18]. The most of import issue of humor research is that many of these studies accept conducted in the cross-exclusive blueprint and conducted experimental studies did not focus on older adults.
More often than not, although humor is a universal phenomenon, the way people use and express humor is strongly influenced by cultural norms, beliefs, attitudes, and values [4, 19, 20]. Thus, sense of humour training can exist influenced past culture. With regard to the positive effect of humor in afterwards life and its civilization-based nature, it is imperative to find ways to maintain and ameliorate a sense of humor. This written report, therefore, has been conducted to examine sense of humour training programs on the sense of humor among older adults.
2. METHODS
ii.1. Study Design
The present community-based Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) with a two-group design was conducted in 2019. The CONSORT statement was employed in designing the written report and reporting results [21]. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants after providing information most the purpose of the study.
2.2. Participants
The participants were selected from health centers using electronic medical records in Jam city. The city of Jam is located on the southeast of the Bushehr province, Iran. It is noteworthy to mention that mostly all elderly people have a medical record. According to the national census in 2016, its population is 70,051.
ii.iii. Sample Characteristics
A total of l health records of elderly people aged 60 years and over were randomly selected from Jam health centers. Forty-six elderly people were contacted by telephone for participation. Forty-two persons were eligible to participate in the study. The inclusion criteria were anile 60 years and over, with no major visual and hearing impairments, and lack of cognitive disorders. The exclusion criteria were refusing to participate, experiencing whatever psychosocial issues during the study, and not attending two sessions. The study menstruation diagram is presented in Fig. ( 1 ). In the end, 40 older adults met the inclusion criteria for participating in the study, of which, 20 persons were randomly assigned to the intervention and 20 persons to the command group and assessed at baseline. The study sample was assigned to either the intervention group or the control grouping using a simple random sampling technique. The randomization was performed using an online random number generator website (http://www.randomizer.org/ class.htm). Ii elderly people of the intervention group left the study (x%), which are less than 20 percent, so no replacement of missing cases was needed.
2.4. Measurement
The sense of sense of humour was measured using the Multidimensional Sense of Humor Scale (MSHS) before and subsequently the viii-week intervention. The MSHS is a 24-item scale with a 5-indicate Likert format from 0 = strongly disagree coded zero to strongly agree coded 4. The possible range is from 0 to 96 and a higher overall score indicates a higher sense of sense of humour [22]. The internal consistency reliability of the MSHS as a whole and its domains was calculated in this study. The Cronbach's Alpha reliability coefficient for the MSHS was found to be 0.94. The Cronbach'south Alpha values for the MSHS subscales, including enjoyment of sense of humor, laughter, verbal humor, finding humour in everyday life, laughing at yourself, and humor nether stress, were obtained equally 0.68, 0.74, 0.76, 0.78, 0.81, and 0.94, respectively, demonstrating practiced internal consistency.
 | Fig. (ane). Flowchart of the study. |
Tabular array one. The sessions of humor training.
| Session | Aim | Content |
| one | Identify the nature of your sense of sense of humor. | Culture and sense of humor. Clarification of the participants' humor preferences. |
| ii | Become less serious and more than playful almost life. | The agin effects of seriousness on everyday life. The impact of playfulness on coping with stress. |
| 3 | Laughter heartily and recitation jokes. | Positive furnishings of laughter. |
| four | Meliorate your power to tell jokes. | Practicing the cosmos of jokes. |
| 5 | Find the funny side of things happening in everyday life. | Consciously searching for humor in daily situations. |
| 6 | Larn to laugh at yourself. | How to start laughing at yourself humorous perspective on personal weaknesses. |
| seven | Change of perspective on difficult situations. | Effects of humor on stress. How to practice finding sense of humour in stressful situations. |
| 8 | Use steps one–7 to cope with stress. | Employ steps one–seven to cope with stress. |
2.5. Intervention
The 7-Humor Habits Plan (7HHP) was used in this written report. The 7HHP (Initially called the viii Step Sense of humour Preparation Programme) is a standardized training program, which can exist implemented individually using a manual or in a group setting guided by a moderator [8]. It was developed by McGhee for strengthening key humor habits and skills. The 7HHP consists of vii cadre habits including environs yourself with sense of humor, cultivate a playful attitude, express joy more than often, create your ain verbal humor, look for humor in daily life, laugh at yourself, find sense of humor in the midst of stress [23].
2.6. Grooming and Process
Participants were recruited via health records. Afterward showing interest in the study, they were informed about the study procedure and informed consent was obtained. Then, participants were asked to complete the baseline measures.
The intervention group received the 7HHP in 8 training sessions of 2 hours length, coupled with dwelling assignments. The grouping sessions included 1) Narrate your own sense of sense of humor, 2) Become less serious and more playful about life, three) Piece of work on your belly laugh, 4) Improve your power to tell jokes, 5) Create your own spontaneous humor, 6) Find humor in daily life, seven) Learn to laugh at yourself, 8) Apply all of the above to cope with stress. The sessions were facilitated by a qualified psychologist. Table i summarizes the content of the sessions.
With respect to the evidence, it indicates that humor is a universal phenomenon, however, individuals from unlike cultures may encounter humor in different means [19]; in the outset session, participants were taught about the importance of humor based on their civilisation. 2.7 Ethical considerations
The current study was conducted according to the Declaration of Helsinki, World Medical Association (WMA) and approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Islamic republic of iran (IR.USWR.REC.1398.153). Written informed consent was obtained from all participants.
2.7. Statistical Analysis
The IBM SPSS Version 23.0 was used and the significance level of p ≤ 0.05 was considered for the statistical analysis. Descriptive analysis was performed with measures of key tendencies and dispersion. A Shapiro–Wilk test was performed to confirm proximity with a normal distribution. A serial of independent-samples t-test and chi-square tests were used in the baseline assay. A series of paired samples t-test and difference-in-differences approach were conducted to assess changes from pre-examination to post-examination. For the analyses, only participants that completed at least vi of the viii training meetings were included.
3. RESULTS
A total of 38 community-dwelling older adults with a hateful historic period of 67.05 years (SD=v.83) (ranging from sixty to eighty years) were included in the study as intervention and command groups.
The mean age of the participants was constitute to be 65.15 (SD=4.25). Intervention group consisted of 18 community-habitation older adults (age: Chiliad = 66.50, SD = 6.14; 7 males, 11 females) and the waiting control group consisted of 20 community-dwelling older adults (age: M = 67.60, SD=5.64; 8 males, 12 females). The results of the independent t-test showed no meaning difference between groups in the means of age (t(36)=-0.58, p=.568).
The sociodemographic and health characteristics of the sample by groups are presented in Table 2 The results of the bivariate assay revealed no statistically significant difference between the intervention group and the control group in terms of historic period, sex activity, level of pedagogy, marital status, living arrangement, and chronic medical conditions (Table 2 ).
A series of contained-samples t-test were conducted to appraise two groups at baseline regarding the sense of sense of humour score. Tabular array iii shows the baseline scores on the sense of sense of humor of the written report participants. Every bit shown in Tabular array 3 , no statistically meaning deviation was observed betwixt the intervention group and the control group at baseline except for "laughing at yourself" which was higher in the command group (P ≤ 0.05).
Table 2. The sociodemographic and health characteristics of the sample past groups.
| Variable | Category | Intervention | Control | χ2 | p | ||
| north | % | n | % | ||||
| Sex | Male | seven | 46.7 | 8 | 53.three | 0.01 | 0.944 |
| Female person | eleven | 47.8 | 12 | 52.2 | |||
| Education | No Formal Education | eight | 42.1 | eleven | 57.9 | 0.42 | 0.516 |
| Formal Education | 10 | 52.half dozen | nine | 47.4 | |||
| Marital Status | Married | 12 | 46.2 | xiv | 53.eight | 0.05 | 0.825 |
| Unmarried | six | fifty | half-dozen | fifty | |||
| Living Organization | Solitary | 2 | l | two | l | 0.05 | 0.976 |
| Spouse | 12 | 46.two | 14 | 53.8 | |||
| Children | 4 | l | iv | 50 | |||
| Chronic Medical Atmospheric condition | Yes | 10 | 38.v | 16 | 61.5 | 2.half dozen | .106 |
| No | 8 | 66.7 | 4 | 33.3 | |||
Table 3. The baseline scores on the sense of sense of humor of study groups.
| Variable | Intervention | Control | t | P | ||
| Hateful | SD | Mean | SD | |||
| Enjoyment of Humor | 11.17 | iii.vi | 11.15 | 2.85 | 0.02 | 0.987 |
| Laughter | 10.17 | ii.75 | 12.1 | 3.92 | -i.74 | 0.09 |
| Verbal Sense of humor | 8.94 | 1.55 | ix.85 | three.39 | -one.04 | 0.306 |
| Finding Humor in Everyday Life | 14.28 | iii.34 | xv.5 | 3.52 | -1.1 | 0.281 |
| Laughing at Yourself | thirteen.11 | ii.85 | 15.65 | 4.48 | -2.06 | 0.047 |
| Sense of humour Under Stress | 14.61 | 4.57 | 13.55 | 5.26 | 0.66 | 0.513 |
| Total Sense of humor | 72.28 | 13.62 | 77.8 | 17.63 | -1.07 | 0.291 |
 | Fig. (two). Score changes of the sense of sense of humor and its subscales over time in both groups. |
Table iv. The results of paired samples t-tests.
| Grouping | Variable | Pre Test | Post Test | t | P | ||
| Hateful | SD | Hateful | SD | ||||
| Intervention | Enjoyment of Humor | 11.17 | three.6 | fifteen.22 | 4.11 | -four.59 | P<0.001 |
| Laughter | x.17 | 2.75 | 18.eleven | 3.1 | -7.83 | P<0.001 | |
| Verbal Sense of humour | 8.94 | ane.55 | 12.72 | 3.i | -4.73 | P<0.001 | |
| Finding Humor in Everyday Life | 14.28 | 3.34 | 17.5 | 3.26 | -4.19 | P<0.01 | |
| Laughing at Yourself | xiii.11 | two.85 | 19.33 | 3.43 | -half dozen.36 | P<0.001 | |
| Humor Nether Stress | fourteen.61 | 4.57 | xviii.22 | 4.49 | -2.54 | P≤0.05 | |
| Total Humor | 72.28 | 13.62 | 101.eleven | 17.06 | -vi.77 | P<0.001 | |
| Command | Enjoyment of Sense of humour | xi.15 | two.85 | 11.05 | three | 0.35 | 0.733 |
| Laughter | 12.1 | 3.92 | 12.45 | 3.39 | -one.68 | 0.11 | |
| Exact Humor | 9.85 | 3.39 | ten | 3.18 | -0.9 | 0.379 | |
| Finding Humour in Everyday Life | 15.5 | 3.52 | 14.65 | 3.84 | 1.56 | 0.135 | |
| Laughing at Yourself | 15.65 | 4.48 | 15.seven | iv.07 | -0.22 | 0.825 | |
| Sense of humour Under Stress | 13.55 | 5.26 | thirteen.nine | 4.85 | -ane.32 | 0.201 | |
| Full Sense of humour | 77.8 | 17.63 | 77.75 | 16.82 | 0.06 | 0.951 | |
A serial of paired samples t-examination were conducted to evaluate the impact of the intervention on older adult'southward scores on the sense of sense of humour and its subscales. Table 4 shows the results of paired samples t-tests by study groups. Equally shown in Table four , a statistically significant increment was observed in total score of sense of sense of humour from Pre-examination (M =77.28, SD = thirteen.62) to Post-test (G = 101.11, SD=17.06), t= -6.77, p<.001, in the intervention group. Results of other paired t-tests showed statistically pregnant changes from pre-test to post-test for enjoyment of humor (t= -4.59, p<.001), laughter (t= -7.83, p<.001), verbal humor (t= -iv.73, p<.001), finding humor in everyday life (t= -4.19, p<.001), laughing at yourself (t= -vi.36, p<.01), and humour nether stress(t= -2.54, P≤.05) in intervention group. As shown in Tabular array 4 , no statistically meaning changes were observed in any consequence variables from pre-test to post-test in the control group. Fig. ( 2 ) shows changes of the sense of humour and its subscales from pretest to mail service-test in both groups.
Additionally, a difference-in-differences analysis using an adjusted general linear model was carried out to compare two intervention and control groups in terms of a sense of sense of humour before and afterwards the intervention. The analysis revealed a pregnant increment in the sense of humor for the intervention grouping compared to the control group (F=43.54, p<.001), after decision-making for age, sex, level of education, marital status, and chronic medical weather condition. The mean score of sense of sense of humor increased from 77.28 to 101.11 (30.8%) amid the intervention group, while the average score of the sense of humor for the control group did non change essentially over time.
4. Discussion
Sense of humor has been conceptualized both equally a cognitive power (humor comprehension) and as an aesthetic response (humor appreciation) [24]. It has been considered a successful coping technique that can provide a more optimistic attitude towards life [25]. According to McGhee [26], humor tin can allow individuals to manage serious situations by redefining the circumstances as less threatening.
The current study investigated the effectiveness of the 7 humor habits on a sample of older adults in a randomized controlled trial. The intervention group received McGhee's eight-week humour training. For the intervention group, the sense of humour increased from pre to post intervention. This indicated that the humor could be malleable through a humor training program. The findings from the current study are consistent with some previous studies which found the 7HHP effectively foster humor [viii, 25, 27].
In their study, Ruch, Hofmann [8] found that while the exposure to sense of humour may increase the cheerfulness and decrease the seriousness, it cannot increase the humour. In other words, unsystematic exposure to sense of humor may outcome in a brusque-term induction of humour-related mood; it does not foster the sense of sense of humor.
A growing trunk of inquiry has documented the positive relationships betwixt sense of humour and well-beingness. Individuals with a college sense of sense of humour are more than likely to be able to reframe adverse events [25].
Equally people historic period, their cerebral abilities, such as conceptual reasoning, memory, and processing speed, gradually decline. It has been found that fluid intelligence, which refers to abilities involving executive function, processing speed, memory, and psychomotor, peaks in the third decade of life and and so declines [28]. Sense of humour requires many different cognitive functions especially fluid cerebral abilities, which decline with age [29]. With regards to the bulk of evidence that indicates training improves cognitive function [xxx-32], it can exist postulated that the humor training programme may heighten the cerebral vitality of elderly people, consequently results in improving a sense of sense of humour.
Conclusion
While several studies take documented humor every bit a potent predictor of life satisfaction and well-being, there is prove indicating a sense of humor declines with historic period [33]. In addition to the declining humor in erstwhile age, eastern culture is less probable to use self-enhancing humor and may deprecate humor [19]. Therefore, elderly people need to exist trained to enhance their humor. The results of this study underline the importance of grooming on a sense of humour among the elderly. Our findings support the previous studies conducted by Jiang, Li [19] and Ruch, Hofmann [8] who plant humor can exist trained in onetime age and improved by standardized programs. It is suggested that the applicability of the plan needs to exist tested further in future studies in unlike settings.
LIMITATIONS
Like other research, this study is not free of limitations which need to be best-selling. Although this study attempted to use rigorous methodology, it is incommunicable to eliminate all threats to the study. The get-go limitation of this study was the relatively modest sample size due to the limited number of participants per group in group therapy, which is limited to a maximum of fifteen persons per group [34]. Secondly, the limitation that should be acknowledged is that merely a self-report method was used to collect data, it is suggested that in the future studies, a peer-rating method will exist used to complement the self-reported humor.
Ideals APPROVAL AND CONSENT TO PARTICIPATE
This study was approved past the Ethics Committee of the University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran under upstanding approval no (IR.USWR.REC.1398.153).
HUMAN AND Fauna RIGHTS
Not applicable.
CONSENT FOR PUBLICATION
Written informed consent was obtained from all the participants when they were enrolled.
STANDARDS OF REPORTING
Espoused guidelines have been followed.
AVAILABILITY OF DATA AND MATERIALS
Not applicable.
FUNDING
This study was supported by grant No 1961 at the University of Social Welfare & Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Conflict OF INTEREST
The authors declare no conflict of interest, financial or otherwise.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Alleged none.
Source: https://openpsychologyjournal.com/VOLUME/13/PAGE/333/
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