A Study to Assess the effectiveness of Laughter Therapy on Stress among Senior Citizens residing in selected old age homes at Rajkot District

Abstract

The present study was to assess the effectiveness of laughter therapy on level of stress among senior citizen residing in ‘Sadbhavna old age home’ at Rajkot. The objective of the study was to assess the effectiveness of laughter therapy on level of stress among senior citizen residing in selected old age homes. A Quasi-experimental one group pre-test and post-test group design was chosen for the study without randomization. The samples were selected for the study by adopting purposive sampling technique. The sample selected for the present study was decided to be 30. The data collected by structured interview with Rating scale – Perceived stress scale administrated to assess the level of stress among senior citizens residing in selected age homes. The tool was used to collect the data which consist of two parts. Part -I: Consist of demographic variables of senior citizens. Part-II : Rating scale – Perceived stress scale. The content of the Rating scale- Perceived stress scale were checked and evaluated by 5 experts. The experts were five nursing experts specialized in Mental Health Nursing. The data collected were analysed through descriptive (mean, frequency and percentage) and inferential statistics (‘t’ test and Chi- square) to test the hypothesis. Study shows that pre-test level of stress among selected 30 samples of senior citizen with stress residing in old age homes, reported 08(26.67%) High perceived stress, 19(63.33%) Moderate stress and 03(10%) reported on low stress. The pre test reported 08 (26.67%) high perceived stress and 19(63.33%) Moderate stress and 03(10%) reported on low stress. After the laughter therapy on stress among senior citizens 23(76.67%) reported Moderate level, 07(23.33) reported low level of stress and there was nil reported on high perceived stress. It also revealed that the mean score of pre test was and post test was 15.33. The Mean difference was 11.7. The standard deviation of pre test was 4.82 and post test was3.04. Degree of freedom (df) was 29. The obtained ‘t’ value 11.23. Hence it was highly significant p<0 With regard to association with stress with their selected demographic variables Age, Gender, Marital status, Source of income, Presence of any physical problem, Pattern of communication with the family member, and Practice of any relaxation therapies had the significant association with the level of stress among senior citizen residing in selected old age homes. The study shows that the calculated Chi-square value is more than the tabulated value at the level of 0.05 for the demographic variables such as Gender, Presence of any physical problem, use of any relaxation therapy exercise. For the other demographic variables such as Age, Marital status, source of income and patterns of communication with family the Chi-square value is less than the tabulated value at the level of 0.05., thus stated hypothesis H2 is accepted which shows there is significant association between effectiveness of laughter therapy on level of stress among senior citizen mnemonic and selected demographic variables.