The effectiveness of laughter therapy on stress

Abstract

Adolescent stress is an important health issue. Today teens are dealing with conflicting demands from teachers, parents and peers. They are afraid of facing the challenges of growing up in the life. The aim of the study was to determine the effectiveness of laughter therapy to reduce the level of stress among high school students. Pre-experimental one group pre-test and post-test design was adopted for this study. The sample of 50 students studying 10th standard were selected using convenience sampling technique. A self-structured questionnaire was used to assess the level of stress among high school students. The study findings showed that in pretest most of them 38 (76%) were in moderate stress, 7 (14%) were in severe stress and 5 (10%) were in mild stress. In posttest majority of the samples 35 (70%) were in mild stress, 12 (24%) were in normal and 3 (6%) were in moderate stress. There was a significant association between selected demographic variables such as age in post-test (P=0.044) with level of stress. The study concluded that the high school students had mild, moderate and severe stress. It has been proved statistically that the laughter therapy has an effect on reducing the level of stress among high school students.