*베스티안병원 간호본부, †한국음주문화연구센터, ‡서울대학교 간호대학
*Department Nursing, Bestian Hospital, Seoul, †The Korean Alcohol Research Foundation, Goyang, ‡College of Nursing, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
This report investigates the effects of laughter therapy on stress response and coping for specialized burn hospital nurses that are frequently faced with stressful situations. An experimental group with treatment (18 nurses participating in the 60 minute laughter therapy once a week for 8 weeks) was compared to a control group with no specific treatment (17 nurses). In order to evaluate the effects of the laughter therapy, the stress response scale, the ways of coping scale and the serum cortisol were measured. There was a significant decrease in the serum cortisol level in the experimental group. The score of the experimental group has shown a tendency to decrease in the stress response but there was no significant difference between the groups. The study showed no significant difference in the ways of coping scale. This study recommends that laughter therapy coupled with cognitive approaches could affect ways of nurse's coping with stress. Also, Further study with sufficient sample for evaluating effect of laughter therapy is needed. (Korean J Str Res 2011;19:323∼331)