Humour in health‐care interactions: a risk worth taking

Abstract

Background Humour is a complex, dynamic phenomenon that mainly occurs in social situations between two or more people. Most humour research reviews rehearsed as opposed to spontaneous humour and rarely review the patientsÕ perspective.

Ambulance clinicians' experiences of relationships with patients and significant others

“…‘To use humour’ is described as one method to alleviate the patient's worries. McCreaddie and Payne () found that humour established cancer patients' identities and enabled a meaningful interaction with nurses. In the present study, humour created an act of togetherness with the patient, colleague and/or significant others, as one means of ACs involving themselves as persons and their emotions in the relationship.…”

Cancer survivors’ experiences of humour while navigating through challenging landscapes – a socio‐narrative approach

“…The humour that returned in a more clarified situation was altered, typically gallows humour and self‐irony. The therapeutic impact of gallows humour in life‐limiting circumstances is emphasised, helping to grasp life 1 day at a time and maintain normality .…”

Humour and urology: “Nota bene dick doc”

“…It was also noted that initiating humour involves risk, and risk-taking requires a degree of self-esteem and confidence. 1 In our case as mentioned above, the patient had the latter.…”

“…The healing powers of humour and humour ability to soften difficult situations are well-described. 1,2 However, in recent years, humour has evaporated and been replaced with political correctness. 3 So it was refreshing when a technician found a written message to the operating team from the patient on the operating What did this humour, initiated by the patient, do?…”