Humor as a nursing intervention.

This article describes the use of humor as a nursing intervention and asks if nurses can justify the integration of the use of humor into the repertoire of nursing interventions. Several uses for humor are illustrated, and humor is differentiated from laughter. The article quotes many nurse leaders' opinions about humor and identifies do's and do not's of appropriate humor; it discusses six research studies in which health care professionals used humor as a treatment protocol. The studies were in the areas of preoperative teaching, clinical evaluation, strategies to prevent hopelessness in adolescents with oncologic illness, and group cohesiveness. Results of these six studies give some evidence, although not robust, that humor is an effective intervention. Methods of determining and implementing humor as an appropriate nursing intervention are included.