The effect of employee's humor training on depression, anxiety and stress of the elderly residents in Tehran's nursing homes: a randomized clinical trial

Nowadays, elderly has a high prevalence and older people face psychological problems. Educational interventions of nursing homes` staff can affect their satisfaction and performance. In this study, the effect of employeeschr('39') humorous intervention on depression, anxiety and stress among elderly residents in selected nursing homes in Tehran was investigated in 2018.

This randomized clinical trial study was performed on two groups of 30 elderly people in Tohid (intervention) and Farzanegan (control) nursing homes. The staff of the Tohid center received the training of humor in 7 sessions of 90 minutes. Demographic questionnaire and Depression, Anxiety and Stress Questionnaire (DASS-21) were used for data gathering. Data analysis was performed using SPSS-v23.

The two groups did not differ significantly in terms of demographic variables and depression, anxiety, and stress in the pretest stage (p>0.05). In the intervention group, there was a significant decrease in anxiety and stress in the elderly (p<0.05). The results of covariance analysis indicated the efficacy of intervention in reducing anxiety and stress, so that 43% of variation of anxiety and 25% of variation of stress were due to independent variable.

According to our findings, staff humor training is effective in reducing the anxiety and stress of the elderly. Because of its low cost, its capability and safety, it is recommended that the conditions for using this intervention are provided in the nursing homes.