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Laughter yoga activities for older people living in residential aged care homes: A feasibility study
Author(s) -
Ellis Julie M,
BenMoshe Ros,
Teshuva Karen
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
australasian journal on ageing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.63
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1741-6612
pISSN - 1440-6381
DOI - 10.1111/ajag.12447
Subject(s) - mood , session (web analytics) , happiness , affect (linguistics) , medicine , blood pressure , elderly people , gerontology , physical therapy , psychology , clinical psychology , psychotherapist , communication , world wide web , computer science
Objective To evaluate the effects of a laughter yoga activities ( LY ) program for older people living in residential aged care homes ( RACH s). Methods A 6‐week LY program was implemented at three RACH s with twenty‐eight residents. A pre–post design was used to measure positive and negative affect, happiness, blood pressure and pulse. Results Post‐session mean scores for positive mood, and happiness were significantly higher than pre‐session scores in weeks 1, 3 and 6, and the post‐session mean negative mood scores were significantly lower than pre‐session scores in weeks 3 and 6. Post‐session readings for mean systolic blood pressure were significantly lower than pre‐session readings in weeks 1 and 6. Conclusion This study demonstrates the potential for using LY to improve mood and lower blood pressure of older people living in RACH s.