The impact of laughter yoga as a NIC on health parameters in nurses and nursing students: a systematic review.

Background: Laughter yoga is a laughter exercise that combines yoga and breathing exercises (Pranayama). Laughter yoga decreases stress and burnout levels, depression and anxiety, salivary cortisol levels. The aim of the research is to systematically examine the studies on the effect of laughter yoga on health parameters in nurses and nursing students.

Methods: Systematic review of RCTs and quasi-experimental studies. The PRISMA protocol was used as the basis for the conduct of the study. Google Scholar, Medline/PubMed, Cochrane Library, Science Direct, CINAHL Complete and OVID databases were used for study search. Inclusion criteria was based on PICOS. The quality of the studies was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute-Meta analysis Statistical Assessment and Review Instrument (JBI-MAStARI). 10 studies were included in the systematic review after those excluded due to reasons not meeting the inclusion criteria.

Results: It was determined that the sample size was 50 or more in 80% of the studies. It was determined that the maximum number of laughter yoga sessions was 24 and at least 5 sessions. It has been observed that stress levels evaluated with different measurement tools decrease with the effect of laughter yoga in four studies. In three studies it was found that the level of burnout decreased after laughter yoga. In two studies in which salivary cortisol levels were evaluated also showed that laughter yoga reduced cortisol levels.

Conclusions: It was concluded that stress and burnout levels, depression and anxiety, salivary cortisol levels decreased especially after laughter yoga. In addition, it was concluded that laughter yoga had positive effects on psychological well-being, life satisfaction, subjective happiness increase in and general health in the groups where laughter yoga was practiced.