Humor: A coping response for student nurses

Abstract

This qualitative study describes various situations that elicited a humorous coping response in student nurses assigned to a state psychiatric hospital. The research question asked was: Under what circumstances do student nurses choose to use humor as a coping method? Forty-three senior student nurses enrolled in a north-central United States university were invited to participate anonymously in the study. A content analysis of 38 narratives describing humorous situations was conducted and the emergent categories were evaluated for compatibility with Lazarus's theory of stress and coping. Novel and bizarre behaviors, novel and bizarre thoughts, negative evaluations of self and role, perceived threats to physical well-being, and wit were common antecedents fostering tension in the form of anxiety, frustration, fear, and puzzlement. Students used cognitive appraisal and humorous coping to mediate the stressful person-environment relations for positive outcomes. The cognitive and behavloral efforts to manage these emotions in a humorous manner were identified.