Comparing Teaching Practices about Humor among Nursing Faculty: An International Collaborative Study

Abstract

Humor has been recognized by nurse researchers as a therapeutic intervention known to have positive psychological and physiological outcomes for patients. There is, however, no research that examines how nurses learn about humor. The purpose of this preliminary study was to examine nursing faculty members' teaching practices about humor education in the classroom and in clinical settings. Nursing faculty members from four nursing programs, two in the United States, one in Northern Ireland, and one in Taiwan, were surveyed about the inclusion of humor in the nursing curriculum. Findings revealed that substantially more humor education was included in clinical settings in the USA and Northern Ireland than in the classroom. In Taiwan, however, humor education was included more in the classroom than in clinical settings. Older and more experienced nurses with higher levels of education reported using less humor in teaching practices.

Lay Health Influencers

“…In this study, humor appeared to share benefits similar to those documented in other fields (e.g., psychology and nursing). Humor was used as a tool to build and enhance communication (Dziegielewski, Jacinto, Laudadio, & Legg-Rodriguez, 2003) and create a more relaxed and safe environment in which to share and discuss a sensitive topic (Adamle, Chiang-Hanisko, Ludwick, Zeller, & Brown, 2007). Humor also helped to reduce stress and make tobacco users feel good during the discussion about quitting, similar to “healthy humor” in therapeutic settings (Sultanoff, 1994).…”

The case for mixed methodologies in researching the teacher’s use of humour in adult education

“…Rather than research studies focusing on the teacher's conscious motivation to use humour in class as a communication technique, the studies reviewed identified motivation related to humour use as an outcome behaviour for students: to enhance physical sport performance (Spencer 1997); to create cohesive groups of students (Senior 2001); to make learning fun and to focus attention (Ulloth 2002); and to enhance health care delivery (Adamle et al 2007).…”

“…The acknowledgement of the complexity of the situational context in which humour takes place fails to be captured within fixed-response questionnaires (Sev'er and Ungar 1997) such as the Coping Humour Scale (Talbot 2000;Tumkaya 2007;Tumkaya et al 2008), or Likert scales (Torok, McMorris, and Lin 2004;Adamle et al 2007). One of the statements in the Coping Humour Scale is: 'It has been my experience that humour is often a very effective way of coping with problems' (Lefcourt 2000).…”

It's Funny Here. Is It There?

“…However, it is possible also that the positive emotions, such as laughter, acted on the neuroendocrine system and suppressed the elevation of blood glucose level (Hayashi et al, 2003). Adamle, Chiang-Hanisko, Ludwick, Zeller, & Brown (2007) conducted a study to examine how nurses learn about humor. Although there is nursing research that examines the effects of therapeutic humor, they found no research that investigates how nursing students learn about humor and how to use it therapeutically.…”

“…Although there is nursing research that examines the effects of therapeutic humor, they found no research that investigates how nursing students learn about humor and how to use it therapeutically. Their study examined the teaching practices of nursing faculty about humor education in the classroom and in clinical settings (Adamle et al, 2007). Nursing faculty members from four nursing programs, two in the USA, one in Northern Ireland, and one in Taiwan, were surveyed about the inclusion of humor in the nursing curriculum.…”