Sense Of Humor Questionnaire Research Articles

Interplay of occupational stress, sense of humor, and health status among nurses working at hospitals in Ahvaz.

Sense of humor constitutes a part of everyday life and work and an indispensable part of healthcare. However, the relationship between sense of humor and nursing occupational health and stress is yet to be studied in Iran. This study aimed to analyze the interplay of demographic factors, occupational stress, sense of humor, and health status of nurses working at the hospitals affiliated with the Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Iran. In this descriptive-analytical study, the statistical population consisted of 203 nurses. Occupational stress was assessed using the Iranian version of the Effort-Reward-Imbalance (ERI) Questionnaire. The Sense of Humor Questionnaire (SHQ) and the Iranian version of the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) were employed to assess the sense of humor and physio-psychological health, respectively. Data collected were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software. 81% (n=164) of the participants had an “external effort” (E) and “reward” (R) ratio greater than 1, indicating very high occupational stress. 39% (n=79) nurses with high occupational stress displayed their commitment to the workplace. Approximately 42% (n=85) of nurses were suffering from health problems. The mean humor score of participants was 2.90±0.41. Major life events over the past 3 months (p<0.01), weekly working hours (p<0.01), high occupational stress (p<0.01), and sense of humor (p<0.01) were determined to be significant predictors of nurses' health problems. Decision-makers are recommended to reduce nursing working hours through work shift management in order to maintain nurses' health status and reduce their occupational stress. In addition, hospital directors should promote a sense of humor in hospital environments with the help of culture-building practices, comedy books, music CDs, and training courses.

Relation Glasser's basic needs with hypertension in middle age: the mediating role of humor

Background: Blood pressure disease is one of the most important risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. Objective: The purpose of this research was to investigate the relationship between Glasser's basic needs with hypertension in the middle aged peoples by mediating variable of humor. Methods: In the present study, descriptive-correlational research design was used. The sample consisted of 204 middle aged people who referred to Bu-Ali Sina Hospital in Qazvin (92 males, and 112 females). Purposive sampling method was utilized for collecting the data. The instruments of the present study included Sahebi adjustment scale, sense of humor questionnaire and the blood pressure information questionnaire. Data was analyzed using structural equation modeling method. Findings: The results showed that the proposed model had an acceptable fitness. In the relationship between basic needs with blood pressure and the role of mediator of humor, the direct relationship between blood pressure and the need for belonging, fun, survival, power and freedom was significant (95% confidence interval). Indirect relationship between blood pressure and the need for belonging, fun, survival and power was significant. Also, the direct relationship between humor and blood pressure was confirmed (β= -0.55). Finally, in this model, the direct relationship between the need for belonging, survival, power and freedom with humor was confirmed (95% confidence interval). Conclusion: It can be concluded that there is a meaningful relationship between humor and blood pressure. Glasser's basic needs and, consequently the humor and their uses in dealing with stresses can reduce the blood pressure in middle aged persons. Keywords: Glasser's basic needs, Hypertension, Humor

The relationship between senses of humor and Mindfulness with Anxiety of death in elderly men refer to Jahandidegan center of seven region of Municipality in Tehran city

Background and objective: Ageing period is a time to encounter the facts of life like the death. The acceptance of the reality for all of elders is not easy, but some of research evidences indicated that the two psychological elements including; the sense of humor and mindfulness can be reducing the anxiety of death. The main aim of this study was to assess the relationship between senses of humor and mindfulness with anxiety of death in elderly men. Methods: The current study is descriptive with Correlation .The statistical research community included; all elderly men of District 7 and the Jahandidegan (Ageing) centers of Tehran Municipality in 1394-95. The sample statistical of present research of 100 people between 65 to 75 years old of elderly men by lAvailable sampling methodr. Data collection tools include mental state examination (MMSE), Screening subjects and Sense of Humor Questionnaire (SHQ), Mindfulness questionnaire and Templar Death Anxiety Inventory (DAS). In order to analyze data from tablesr descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation and stepwise regression were used. Results: The results showed that between senses of humor and mindfulness there is a significant negative relationship with death anxiety. The results show that the total variable used to predict 28 of the variance in death anxiety. Humor also has higher effective rate on death anxiety of in elderly men prediction. Conclusion: The findings of present study revealed that the psychological components like; sense of humor and mindfulness can be reduce the anxiety of death in male elderlies. Therefore, elderly counselors and clinicians could be used these two elements for reduction most of anxiety including; the death.n Paper Type: Research Article

Appreciation of humor is decreased among patients with Parkinson’s disease

ObjectiveTo test whether appreciation of humor might be a non-motor function affected by Parkinson’s disease (PD). MethodsThirty-nine PD patients and 38 healthy controls participated in this study. Appreciation of humor and effect of the presentation method utilized were assessed. Sense of humor was evaluated by the sense of humor questionnaire (SHQ-6). Humor appreciation was tested using three methods of presentation: videos, audio sketches and pictorial cartoons, each portraying both obvious and non-obvious humor content. Depression, anxiety, cognition, disease severity and quality of life were measured by standardized questionnaires and correlated with humor outcomes. ResultsPatients with PD rated humor content lower than controls on every method of presentation as well as on the SHQ-6 (p = 0.004). The greatest between-group difference was noted when the material was presented visually via pictorial cartoons (p < 0.0001). In addition, obvious humor content was rated higher than non-obvious content by the PD group in all three presentation methods (p < 0.05). The degree of depression and anxiety did not influence these results. ConclusionsPatients with PD have a decreased sense of humor compared to healthy controls. Utilizing audio methods of presentation and humor in an obvious mode appears to be the preferred approach for eliciting responses to humor in a PD population.

The Sense of Humor Questionnaire: Conceptualization and Review of 40 Years of Findings in Empirical Research

This paper presents the background for developing the Sense of Humor Questionnaire (SHQ), including ideas that guided the ambition to design a tool for assessment of individual differences in sense of humor that was relatively neutral to variations in culture, content and technique. The test was first organized into three dimensions of items, based on face validity of content, with items oriented to openness to ambiguity, preference for humorous situations and emotional suggestibility. The first revision reduced items from twenty-seven to twenty-two. A second revision presented seven items on each of three dimensions that were theoretically founded on ideas of person-situation interactions. Research found that items on meta-message sensitivity (M-items) and liking of humorous situations (L-items) yielded fair alphas, whereas those on mirthful expression (E-items) did not. A review of research is presented based on scores from the M- and L-items of the SHQ. The SHQ-6 is a short form including three items from the M- and the L-dimensions, respectively. This scale has proven effective in research across a vide range of applications including the role of sense of humor in mood, coping, morbidity and mortality. An ultra-short version (SHQ-3) was included in a population health survey and provided descriptive evidence on the prevalence of sense of humor as well as the positive role for sense of humor in surviving into retirement. After age seventy this protective effect of sense of humor faded away.

A 7-Year Prospective Study of Sense of Humor and Mortality in an Adult County Population: The Hunt-2 Study

To prospectively explore the significance of sense of humor for survival over 7 years in an adult county population. Residents in the county of Nord-Trøndelag, Norway, aged 20 and older, were invited to take part in a public health survey during 1995-97 (HUNT-2), and 66,140 (71.2 %) participated. Sense of humor was estimated by responses to a cognitive (N = 53,546), social (N = 52,198), and affective (N = 53,132) item, respectively, taken from the Sense of Humor Questionnaire (SHQ). Sum scores were tested by Cox survival regression analyses applied to gender, age, and subjective health. Hazard ratios were reduced with sense of humor (continuous scale: HR = 0.73; high versus low by median split: HR = 0.50) as contrasted with increase of HR with a number of classical risk factors (e.g., cardiovascular disease: HR = 6.28; diabetes: HR = 4.86; cancer: HR = 4.18; poor subjective health: HR = 2.89). Gender proved to be of trivial importance to the effect of sense of humor in survival. Subjective health correlated positively with sense of humor and therefore might have presented a spurious relation of survival with humor, but sense of humor proved to reduce HR both in individuals with poor and good subjective health. However, above age 65 the effect of sense of humor on survival became less evident. Sense of humor appeared to increase the probability of survival into retirement, and this effect appeared independent of subjective health. Age under 65 mediated this effect, whereas it disappeared beyond this age.

Evening Types among German University Students Score Higher on Sense of Humor after Controlling for Big Five Personality Factors

Humor research has focused on relationships between humor and various personality traits. As personality and morningness-eveningness, as well as personality and humor, are related based on genetics and neurobehavioral function, one might also expect a relationship between humor and chronotype. 197 students responded to the Composite Scale of Morningness as a measure of chronotype, the Sense of Humor Questionnaire and a 10-item version of the Big Five Inventory. Individuals scoring as evening types reported a greater sense of humor than morning individuals, with higher morningness scores. In a stepwise linear regression, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Openness, and Chronotype each accounted for a significant amount of variance in sense of Humor scores. That is, the relationship between scores on Sense of Humor and evening orientation was significant after controlling for personality dimensions. Eveningness was related to sense of Humor scores in women but not in men. Social but not cognitive humor was predicted by eveningness.

The prevalence of sense of humor in a large, unselected county population in Norway: Relations with age, sex, and some health indicators

A 3-item humor measure derived from the Sense of Humor Questionnaire (SHQ: Svebak 1996) was included in a health survey of all adult residents of a Norwegian county (study n ¼ 65,333). Health-related measures included subjective health satisfaction, prevalence of common bodily complaints (e.g., nausea, diarrhea, pounding heart, dyspnea, musculuskeletal pain), blood pressure, and body mass index. SHQ mean scores were slightly skewed toward high values. Overall, humor scores (metamessage sensitivity, liking of humor, laughter expressiveness) declined with age (r ¼� .29) and were slightly higher in males than females among younger age cohorts. Sense of humor was positively correlated with overall health satisfaction (r ¼ .21) and negatively related to systolic blood pressure (r ¼� .14). However, after controlling for age, only the partial correlation with subjective health satisfaction remained greater than .10 (partial r ¼ .12). Due to the large number of participants, coe‰cients were statistically significant despite very low explained variance. Overall, these data, comprising the largest study of humor and health ever undertaken, provide very little evidence for a direct relationship between sense of humor and physical health parameters.

The Effects of Laughter on Discomfort Thresholds: Does Expectation Become Reality?

Distraction and relaxation have been controlled in previous studies as possible mechanisms for the effectiveness of mirthful laughter in coping with pain and discomfort. The purpose of this study is to control expectation of benefit from laughter. Discomfort thresholds for a blood pressure cuff at the upper dominant arm were recorded immediately before and after exposure to either a humorous or a relaxation video. Instructional sets led participants to believe that the video would either increase or decrease their sensitivity to discomfort. A 5th group watched the humorous video without manipulation of expectation. All participants completed A. Ziv's (1979) Sense of Humor Questionnaire (SHQZ). Humor and relaxation videos raised discomfort thresholds, and the effect of both video types was enhanced by expectations. Humorous personality trait (SHQZ) did not moderate effects. The larger issue of whether mirthful laughter has any unique benefit for pain or discomfort control beyond the effects of relaxation, distraction, or expectation is discussed.

The Significance of Personality in Pain from Gallbladder Stones

Background: The aim of the study was to investigate the association between personality factors related to coping styles and reported pain due to gallstones. Methods: Personality trait measures were completed by 28 consecutive gallstone patients to provide estimates of positive coping resources (Life Regard Index, Sense of Coherence Scale, Sense of Humor Questionnaire) and negative coping resources (Eysenck Personality Questionnaire on Neuroticism, Tension, and Effort Stress Inventory). An overall index of gallstone-related complaints (pain) over the past 7 days/6 months was also obtained. Ultrasonography confirmed the gallstone condition. Multiple regression analyses tested the hypothesis that pain would be moderated by positive coping resources and mediated by negative coping resources. Results: Reported pain was less severe with positive coping resources (39% of pain variance explained) and more severe with negative coping resources (45% of pain variance explained). Conclusion: The results confirm that mental coping resources have a significant role in pain differences among gallstone patients.

Differential Influences of Coping Humor and Humor Bias on Mood

The authors investigated relationships among sense of humor measured by a questionnaire, attentional bias toward humor measured by performance on a word-search task, and experimentally induced mood change through the use of sad and humorous cartoons. Mood was significantly altered in a negative direction after the sad cartoon. Coping humor, part of the sense of humor questionnaire, was associated with less negative mood ratings after the sad cartoon. In terms of main effects, only a modest change in mood was found after the humorous cartoon. Humor bias was associated with more positive mood ratings after the humorous cartoon. The authors suggest that coping humor serves a protective psychological function, helping screen the person from negative stimuli and, thus, from negative reactions. Attentional bias toward humor serves a different protective psychological function by helping the person focus on mood-enhancing stimuli in the environment.

The relation of humor to depression and personality.

The present study focused on an assessment of humor, depression, and personality. 38 male and 91 female college students responded to five self-report questionnaires, i.e., Martin and Lefcourt's Situational Humor Response Questionnaire and Coping Humor Scale, Svebak's Sense of Humor Questionnaire, Zimmerman's Inventory to Diagnose Depression, and the Eysenck Personality Inventory. Analysis indicated that individuals who scored lower on the depression scale tended to score higher on the Coping Humor Scale, Extraversion, and Neuroticism. Also, individuals scoring higher on the humor scales tended to score higher on Extraversion and Emotional Stability. These personality factors appear to be strongly related to the sense of humor construct and depression. Perhaps the personality factors of introversion and neuroticism may be employed to identify a predisposition toward depression.

Revised questionnaire on the sense of humor.

Abstract.— A Sense‐of‐Humor Questionnaire (SHQ), based on the proposed 3–dimensional theory of sense of humor, was given to male and female students in social and physical sciences to test its construct validity. There were positive and significant correlations between the laughter‐activating dimension (Mp) and each of the two laughter‐inhibiting dimensions (Lp, and Ep), the latter being zero correlated with each other. In a two‐way analysis of variance (sex X science), the main effects were a sex difference on the Lp‐ as well as Ep‐dimension, while no main effect was found on the Mp‐dimension. The Lp‐scores discriminated between men and women in the social sciences, and the Ep‐scores in the physical sciences. All results are in agreement with theory.