Dementia Collaborative Research Centre, School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Int Psychogeriatr. 2012 Dec;24(12):2037-44. doi: 10.1017/S1041610212000683. Epub 2012 May 14.
Humor therapy is a non-pharmacological intervention with potential to improve mood and quality of life for institutionalized older persons, including those with dementia. The primary aims of the Sydney Multisite Intervention of LaughterBosses and ElderClowns (SMILE) are to examine the effects of humor therapy on residents' mood, quality of life, social engagement, and agitation.
SMILE is a single-blinded cluster-randomized controlled trial where 398 consented residents in 35 residential aged care facilities will be allocated to receive humor therapy or usual care. Residents allocated to the intervention group will engage in humor therapy with professional performers (ElderClowns) and trained facility staff (LaughterBosses) for a minimum of nine two-hour sessions over 12 weeks as well as engaging humorously with LaughterBosses during the course of daily care. The usual care control group will not engage in any formal humor therapy. Researchers, blind to treatment allocation, will assess residents at baseline (week 0), post-intervention (week 13), and follow-up (week 26). The measurement suite includes the Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia, the Dementia Quality of Life Scale, the Multidimensional Observation Scale for Elderly Subjects, the Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory, and the Neuropsychiatric Inventory. Observations of residents' engagement will be recorded at each humor therapy session.
SMILE is the first large rigorous study of humor therapy in aged care.
幽默疗法是一种非药物干预手段，具有改善机构化老年人情绪和生活质量的潜力，包括痴呆症患者。悉尼多地点笑声老板和老年小丑干预（SMILE）的主要目的是检验幽默疗法对居民情绪、生活质量、社交参与和激越的影响。
SMILE 是一项单盲、集群随机对照试验，共有 398 名同意参与的居民被分配到接受幽默疗法或常规护理的 35 个养老院。分配到干预组的居民将与专业演员（老年小丑）和经过培训的机构工作人员（笑声老板）进行幽默治疗，至少进行 9 次每次 2 小时的治疗，为期 12 周，并且在日常护理过程中与笑声老板幽默互动。常规护理对照组不会进行任何正式的幽默治疗。研究人员对治疗分配不知情，将在基线（第 0 周）、干预后（第 13 周）和随访（第 26 周）评估居民。测量套件包括康奈尔痴呆抑郁量表、痴呆生活质量量表、多维观察量表老年受试者、科恩-曼斯菲尔德激越量表和神经精神病学量表。将在每次幽默治疗会议上记录居民的参与情况。
SMILE 是第一个针对老年护理中幽默疗法的大型严格研究。
