Anxiety, Exam Stress, Spirituality
Conditions
Keywords
laughter yoga, exam stress, anxiety, spirituality
Brief summary
This study is planned as a randomized controlled trial to determine the effect of laughter yoga on the exam anxiety and spirituality levels of nursing students. The research will be conducted with 100 second-year nursing students between 04.2025 and 06.2025. Students who meet the inclusion criteria will be randomized and divided into two groups: the experimental group (n=36) and the control group (n=36). All participating students will be administered the Demographic Characteristics Form, Exam Anxiety Scale, and Spirituality Scale (pre-test). The experimental group will undergo laughter yoga sessions twice a week for 4 weeks, totaling 8 sessions. The control group will only complete the Demographic Characteristics Form, Exam Anxiety Scale, and Spirituality Scale (pre-test). No intervention will be applied to the control group. After the laughter yoga sessions are completed, both the experimental and control groups will complete the Demographic Characteristics Form, Exam Anxiety Scale, and Spirituality Scale (post-test). The collected data will be analyzed using SPSS 22 software.
Detailed description
Research Hypotheses: Laughter yoga reduces exam anxiety in nursing students. Laughter yoga increases the spirituality levels of nursing students. This research aims to examine the effects of laughter yoga on exam anxiety and spirituality levels in nursing students. The researcher has completed a two-day Laughter Yoga Leader training with an Internationally Certified Laughter Yoga Instructor and has received the Laughter Yoga Trainer Training certificate. The study was conducted with an experimental design, including an experimental group and a control group. The interventions were applied by the researcher, who holds the Laughter Yoga Leader certification. The sample was selected using the simple random sampling method, and participants were initially administered the Demographic Information Form, Exam Anxiety Scale, and Spirituality Scale. After obtaining ethical committee approval, laughter yoga sessions were applied to students in the experimental group, while no intervention was provided to the control group. As the study was designed experimentally, both groups were initially evaluated using the same measurement tools, and then the experimental group underwent laughter yoga sessions. After the laughter yoga sessions, data were collected from both groups using the same measurement tools, and changes in exam anxiety and spirituality levels were analyzed. The collected data were evaluated to analyze the changes in exam anxiety and spirituality levels. This study aims to determine the effects of laughter yoga on reducing exam anxiety and increasing spirituality levels in nursing students.
Interventions
OTHERlaughter yoga
Participants in the intervention group received laughter yoga sessions twice a week for a total of four weeks.
Sponsors
Kırıkkale University
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
OTHER
Masking
DOUBLE (Subject, Outcomes Assessor)
Masking description
In this study, the data were entered by someone other than the researcher, and statistical analysis was performed by a person other than the researcher. In the study, laughter yoga was applied to the participants in the experimental group. Since laughter yoga is an intervention that can be clearly recognized by the participants, they were aware of which group they were in. This means that blinding of the participants was not possible. Additionally, since the researcher was the person implementing the intervention, both the participants and the researcher were aware of the intervention. Therefore, blinding was not included in this study.
Intervention model description
A randomized controlled trial
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 30 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Being a 2nd-year student in the Nursing Department * Able to speak and understand Turkish * Voluntarily agreeing to participate in the study * No visual or hearing impairments * No history of psychiatric illness * No current or past use of psychotropic medication
Exclusion criteria
* Refusal to participate in the study * Inability to speak or understand Turkish * Diagnosed psychiatric illness and/or use of psychotropic agents * Previous participation in laughter yoga * Physical limitations or respiratory problems preventing yoga practice * Difficulty in performing breathing exercises due to conditions such as septum deviation * Abdominal surgery within the past 6 months Drop-out Criteria: * Failure to attend any of the laughter yoga sessions * Receiving a new diagnosis that contraindicates laughter yoga during the 4-week intervention period
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change in exam anxiety levels as measured by the Test Anxiety Scale | Baseline and post-intervention (Week 4) | Exam anxiety will be assessed using a validated Test Anxiety Scale before and after the 4-week laughter yoga intervention. The mean score difference between pre-test and post-test will be analyzed using paired samples t-test. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change in spirituality levels as measured by the Spirituality Scale | Baseline and post-intervention (Week 4) | Spirituality levels will be measured using a validated Spirituality Scale at the beginning and end of the intervention. Differences in mean scores will be analyzed with paired t-tests to determine statistical significance. |
Countries
Turkey (Türkiye)
Outcome results
None listed