HUMOR IN NURSING PRACTICE - A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY

Humor is an important but underutilized resource in nurse-patient inte raction. The multidimensional value of humor in providing nursing care has recently begun to receive attention. The purpose of this phenomen ological study was to describe the meaning of nurses' use of humor in their nursing practice. Twenty-one registered nurses enrolled in a gra duate nursing program described in detail an experience they had using humor in providing nursing care, The 21 written descriptions were ana lyzed using Colaizzi's phenomenological method. Five themes emerged in which humor was found to (a) help nurses deal effectively with diffic ult situations and difficult patients, (b) create a sense of cohesiven ess between nurses and their patients and also among the nurses themse lves, (c) be an effective therapeutic communication technique that hel ped to decrease patients' anxiety, depression, and embarrassment, (d) be planned and routine or be unexpected and spontaneous, and (e) creat e lasting effects beyond the immediate moment for both nurses and pati ents. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.