Laughter Yoga therapy in haemodialysis: one unit’s experience

Background Laughter Yoga is a patient engagement strategy that promotes health and wellbeing through a structured group laughter therapy program or session. It is a cost-effective and accessible exercise that has been shown to improve mood, and reduce both stress and anxiety. Method The aim of this project was to evaluate the effectiveness of Laughter Yoga in improving wellbeing, in a cohort of people with kidney disease requiring haemodialysis. The study aimed to see an improvement in patient wellbeing. Wellbeing areas under consideration were general satisfaction with life and health, general feelings impacting on wellbeing, expectations in life, chronic pain and ability to relax/wind down. Sixteen patients on thrice-weekly haemodialysis participated in a weekly Laughter Yoga therapy session for four weeks. Results The intervention was evaluated using a non-validated pre- and post-survey. The survey showed the positive indicators for wellbeing increased. The general overall satisfaction with life and health perceptions saw an increase of the mean score from 6 to 7.8 and 4.7 to 6.8, respectively. The positive feelings that participants were asked to comment on revealed a mean score increase. The more challenging feelings that impact on wellbeing showed a mean score decrease. The questions completed about life expectations observed smaller mean score increases. Participants' scores on difficultly to wind down, difficulty with being able to relax and levels of chronic pain showed a mean score decrease. Conclusion The patients that engaged found Laughter Yoga to be a value-adding activity that supported their wellbeing.