Laughter Yoga for Nursing Students Going Into Clinical Practice for the First Time

Clinical practice is an unseparated part of nursing curricula and crucial for students to learn professional skills and gain professional identity. Besides, the clinical practices have an important role in the development of professional identity, are also emotionally challenging and stressful. All these experiences can negatively affect the happiness of nursing students. The unhappiness and stress affect nursing students negatively in terms of their physical and mental health, and lead to decreased performance, increased risk of error, and decreased quality of nursing care. Additionally, nursing students' perspectives on the profession might be negatively affected. Therefore, increased the level of happiness and reduced stress level in nursing students is important in the clinical learning environment.Study authors could not find any studies which examining the effect of laughter yoga on the level of happiness and stress in nursing students who experienced clinical practice for the first time. Therefore, this project aimed to examine the effect of laughter yoga on the happiness and stress levels of nursing students. Study population composed of 61 students studying in the nursing department of a university located in the Central Anatolia Region. Students included in the study will be randomized into intervention and control groups according to a simple randomization rule. A total of 8 sessions of laughter yoga will be applied to the intervention group by the primary researcher for 4 weeks. Personal Information Form, Happiness Scale and Perceived Stress Scale for Nursing Students will be used as data collection tools in the research. Data collection tools will be applied in the form of pre-test and post-test. within the scope of this project, increased students' happiness and decreased stress levels were expected.

Inclusion Criteria:Volunteer to participate in the studyFirst time clinical practiceExclusion Criteria:Inactive student registrationDiagnosed with cardiovascular disease such as hypertension and arrhythmiaHaving had an abdominal hernia, an abdominal operation (within 3 months),Diagnosed with glaucoma and epilepsyBeing on medication for psychiatric reasonsHave experience of laughter yogaUsing other relaxation techniques with a similar effect at the time of the study