The Effectiveness of Humor Training on Happiness and Life Satisfaction of Female Patients With Epilepsy

Women with epilepsy face many physical and psychological problems due to their illness. Epilepsy affects women’s motherhood, parenting role, and quality of life. Thus, in addition to medical interventions, their recovery programs should also cover psychological therapies. Accordingly, this study aimed to examine the effectiveness of humor training on happiness and life satisfaction of female patients with epilepsy.

This study was conducted using a quasi-experimental method with a pretest-posttest design and control group. The research population included all female patients who were members of the Iranian Epilepsy Association, Tehran, in 2020. The subjects were selected using convenience sampling. To this end, 30 women who met the inclusion criteria were randomly assigned into the intervention (n=15) and control (n=15) groups. The intervention group attended eight 2-hour humor training sessions and the control group did not receive any training. The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire and the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) were completed by the subjects before and after the intervention. The collected data were analyzed by one-way Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) using SPSS 24.

According to the findings, the patients who received humor training reported significantly higher levels of happiness and life satisfaction compared to the control group. There was a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test mean scores of happiness (pre-test: 38.20±3.59; post-test: 45.27±4.18) (F=26.37; P=0.001) and also, there was a significant difference between the mean scores of pre-test and post-test of life satisfaction (pre-test: 13.01±6.16; post-test: 18.67±5.70) (F=30.07; P=0.001) in the intervention group. This difference was not significant in the control group (p>0.05).

Humor training increased happiness and life satisfaction among women with epilepsy. This low-cost and easy-to-implement training is recommended to be used by psychologists and psychiatric nurses as a non-pharmacologic alternative along with other treatment options.