The Association Between Sense of Humor and Trauma-Related Mental Health Outcomes: Two Exploratory Studies

Hsiao

Journal of Clinical Nursing

et al. 2019

Aims and objectives To analyse the relationship among hospital nurses’ socio‐demographic data, work stress, humor and health conditions, and to determine the predictors of nurses’ health status. Background Humor can decrease the feelings of helplessness, fear and anxiety, and that may result in the development of positive emotions, which might have a good impact on health. Design This research applied cross‐sectional designs and used structured questionnaires which included socio‐demographic data, an Effort‐Reward Imbalance questionnaire (ERI), humor and 12‐item Chinese health questionnaires (CHQ). A total of 236 nurses in a regional hospital in Taiwan were recruited. SPSS was used for the data analysis in the study. The STROBE was chosen as a checklist for this study. Results The results showed that the significant predictors of the participants’ health were “whether experienced significant life events during the past 3 months,” “the degree of work stress” and the level of “humor.” Conclusions It is recommended that administrators pay attention to the cultivation of nursing staff's humor, such as providing nurses with musical CDs or humorous books and providing stress management training courses to nurses. Relevance to clinical practice It is necessary for hospital managers to determine and deal with the causes of work stress to avoid the development of health problems in the nursing personnel. Furthermore, in order to develop stress‐releasing strategies, it is necessary to provide nurses with stress management and resilience enhancement courses. Cultivating a humor competency of nurses is also recommended to alleviate the work stress.

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…Therefore, humor could potentially be an important factor to facilitate nurses with stress coping skills. Consistent with the results of our study, Boerner, Joseph and Murphy () found that self‐enhancing humor was negatively associated with psychological problems. In our study, “humor creativity” might affect health status.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Associations of work stress and humor with health status in hospital nurses—A cross‐sectional study

Hsiao

Journal of Clinical Nursing

et al. 2019

“…Humor contributes to the alteration of an individual’s cognitive levels and outlook and may bring positive emotional change in their lives [ 14 ]. Humor has been negatively correlated with psychological problems, including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and stress in various studies [ 15 – 17 ]. In addition, several studies have demonstrated a positive correlation between humor, life satisfaction, self-esteem, optimism, happiness, and mental health [ 16 , 18 , 19 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

et al. 2021

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.

“…El humor está dentro de la categoría de las defensas más adaptativas y, según lo postulado por Freud (en Boerner, Joseph & Murphy, 2017), el humor posibilita que la persona observe una realidad dolorosa con una actitud desafiante, de manera tal que se puede trascender y transformar el dolor y el estrés en algo incluso placentero.…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

El humor en los dominicanos como pretexto del trauma cultural de la colonización

Liranzo

2020

cys

En este articulo de reflexión se plantea que el humor en los dominicanos se ha convertido en una defensa patológica que permanece como una barrera que impide integrar las experiencias traumáticas, como fue la colonización. El enfoque es cualitativo con un diseño documental de tipo bibliográfico y argumentativo. La colonización significó un acontecimiento traumático que alteró la vida de los pueblos originarios con experiencias colectivas de abuso, muertes, malos tratos, trabajo forzado, hambrunas, epidemias, guerras, suicidios, un sistema esclavista despiadado y la pérdida cultural. La colonización se manifiesta como una herida enmascarada del trauma cultural que se afronta desde lo inconsciente a través de la figura del Trickster personaje universal que representa lo cómico. El Trickster dominicano, como figura daimónica, se polariza en la sombra, convirtiéndose en persecutor por medio del humor agresivo, que se manifiesta como una defensa inconsciente que pretende menospreciar y ridiculizar al otro. Este humor agresivo, espasmódico y seco es una forma de control compulsivo que se conoce como relajo. Es un Trickster que expresa la invisibilización de los grupos originarios, la desdicha de la herencia española, la tristeza del negro esclavo y todo el sufrimiento a posteriori de la colonización en una mezcla racial y cultural parcialmente incorporada. El relajo del dominicano es una defensa inconsciente, que mantiene la estructura del trauma, por tanto, la fragmentación polarizada del self individual y colectivo, que no se integra a la vida consciente por lo tanto perdura como una continua disculpa del trauma histórico y cultural de la colonización.