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The Effect of Laughter Yoga on Preoperative Anxiety in Pediatric Patients

The Effect of Laughter Yoga on Preoperative Anxiety in Pediatric Patients: A Randomized Controlled Study

Status
Completed
Phases
Unknown
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT07577024
Enrollment
100
Registered
2026-05-11
Start date
2026-01-01
Completion date
2026-02-28
Last updated
2026-05-22

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Pre-operative Anxiety

Keywords

laughter yoga, children, pre-operative anxiety

Brief summary

The effect of laughter yoga on a child's pre-operative anxiety.

Detailed description

Children and their parents who meet the inclusion criteria will be informed about the study content; written informed consent will be obtained from the parents and verbal assent from the children prior to participation. The study will be conducted with two separate groups: a control group receiving routine preoperative care and an intervention group practicing laughter yoga. To ensure balance, groups will be formed using day randomization while considering age criteria. Prior to the study, the researcher completed a laughter yoga course and obtained an "Internationally Accredited Laughter Yoga Leadership Training" certificate. The nurse researcher administering the pre-tests and post-tests will be blinded to whether laughter yoga was applied to the groups. In the intervention group, children brought to the preoperative area one hour early (per routine) will receive a pre-test from the blinded nurse researcher, followed by a 30-minute laughter yoga session led by the researcher, and a post-test administered approximately 10 minutes thereafter. For the control group receiving routine care, the pre-test will be administered, and the post-test will be performed after a 30-minute waiting period.Surgical anxiety disorder was categorized according to the modified Yale Preoperative Anxiety Scale (m-YPAS )performance score out of 40, as stated in the report prepared by Hatipoğlu et al. (2019); scores above 40 were considered high anxiety, and scores below 40 were considered low anxiety. The minimum score that can be obtained is 22.9 and the maximum score is 100.

Interventions

OTHERlaughter therapy

Within the scope of the study, children in the intervention group-who are brought to the preoperative area one hour in advance as per routine practice-will be administered a pre-test by a blinded nurse researcher, followed by a laughter yoga session conducted by the researcher lasting approximately 30 minutes. To allow the physiological and psychological effects of the intervention to stabilize, the post-test will be administered 10 minutes after the session. In the control group receiving routine care without laughter yoga, the pre-test will be administered, and a post-test will be performed after a 40-minute waiting period to ensure consistency in the time criteria between the two groups.

Sponsors

Saglik Bilimleri Universitesi
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
DOUBLE (Subject, Investigator)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
5 Years to 12 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

* Speaking Turkish * Having American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) I and II certifications * Planned as an elective operation * Children aged 5-12 undergoing their first surgery * Having no chronic illnesses

Exclusion criteria

* Children with accompanying chronic illnesses and/or psychological disorders * Children with health problems that prevent them from doing laughter yoga (urinary incontinence, persistent cough, etc.) * Parents and children who refuse to participate in the study.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
pre-operative anxietyFirst arrival at the preoperative area, 10 minutes after laughter yoga.modified Yale Preoperative Anxiety Scale (mYPAS scale) will be applied.

Countries

Turkey (Türkiye)

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: May 23, 2026