The purpose of this study was to develop and utilize a laughter therapy program under the goals of investigating the effects of a laughter program on the stress and depression of middle-aged women, reducing their daily stress and depression, and increasing their psychological stability and quality of life.
In an effort to test the effects of a laughter program, the study conducted a comparative experiment with a group of middle-aged women living in Busan City from September 1 to October 2, 2014. The subjects were divided into the experiment and control group each consisting of 13. The investigator measured and compared the group that participated in a laughter program and the group that did not in terms of stress and depression. Collected data were treated with the pretest-posttest control group design to apply the pretest-posttest comparison method to the experiment and control group.
The test results of effects of a laughter program were as follows:
First, the experiment group that participated in a laughter program dropped in the stress level compared with the control group that did not participate in the program and also maintained the stress reduction effects for a certain period of time after the end of the program.
Second, the experiment group that participated in a laughter program showed a definite decrease in depression than the control group that did not participate in the program and maintained the depression reduction effects for a certain period of time after the end of the program.
Those findings indicate that the program had effects on the stress and depression of middle-aged women, revealing that laughter helped them discharge and reduce such negative emotions as anxiety and depression and regulate their emotions and thus was effective for stress alleviation.