[The Effects of Laughter Therapy Program on Perceived Stress, and Psycho-Neuro-Endocrino-Immuno Responses in Obese Women].

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of the laughter therapy program on perceived stress and psycho-neuro-endocrine-immune responses in obese women.

METHODS

A nonequivalent control group with a pretest-posttest design was used. The participants (n=60), whose age ranged from 30 to 50 years (pre-menopausal and body mass index of over 25 kg/m²), were assigned to the experimental group (n=24) or control group (n=26). The experimental group was provided with the laughter therapy program (12 sessions) for 6 weeks.

RESULTS

There were significant differences in perceived stress, psychological stress response, fasting blood sugar, interleukin-6, and tumor necrosis factor alpha between the two groups after the program. However, there were no significant differences in normalized low frequency (norm LF), normalized high frequency (norm HF), LF/HF ratio, and cortisol between the two groups after the program.

CONCLUSION

It was found that the laughter therapy program had positive effects on some variables in terms of perceived stress and psycho-neuro-endocrine-immuno responses. It is suggested that the laughter therapy in this study can provide the direction for developing a program for obese women.