The Effect of Laughter Yoga on Hope and School Burnout

The Effect of Laughter Yoga on Hope and School Burnout Among Secondary School Students: A Parallel Group Randomized Control Trial.

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of laughter yoga on hope and school burnout among secondary school (8th Grade) students. The study hypothesized that laughter yoga would have an effect on hope and school burnout scores among secondary school students

Purpose: The aim of the research was to examine the effects of laughter yoga on life hope and school burnout among secondary school (8th Grade) students. Methods: The study was conducted with 60 (30 in the intervention group, and 30 in the control group) students. The study population consisted of 8th grade students. Laughter yoga sessions were applied to the intervention group twice a week for 6 weeks. No intervention was offered to the control group. Data were collected by a socio-demographic questionnaire, school burnout inventory and Children's Hope Scale. Results: After laughter yoga, the intervention result showed a significant decrease in burnout (d=0.129; p < 0.001) and increase hope scores (d=0.556; p < 0.001) compared to the control group. Conclusion: The study reveals that laughter yoga affects students' burnout and hope levels. It is recommended to organize laughter yoga activities in schools to decrease burnout and increase hope of students.

Laughter yoga program was composed of four steps. The first step, which took 10 minutes, had warm-up exercises including gentle stretching and hand clapping. The second step, which included deep breathing exercises and hand clapping, took 5 minutes. The third step involved children's games and laughter exercises. The sessions included a combination of different laughter exercises. The last step, which included yoga nidra took 5 minutes.

The Children's Hope Scale (CHS) is self-report measure of children's perceptions that their goals can be met. The CHS consists of six items that are hypothesized to relate to the two underlying factors of agency and pathways. Adding the response values for pathway questions will provide a pathway score ranging from 2-12; higher scores reflect higher pathways thinking. Adding the response values for agency questions will provide an agency score ranging from 2-12; higher scores reflect higher agency thinking. Adding pathway and agency scores will provide an overall hope score (i.e., level of hope). Scores of 4-8 indicate no to very low hope, 9-12 indicate slightly hopeful, 13-16 indicate moderately hopeful, and 17-24 indicates highly hopeful.

Burnout is assessed in accordance with the School Burnout Inventory scale comprises nine uni dimensional items measuring the three dimensions: (1) exhaustion at school (e.g., I feel overwhelmed by my school work; I brood over matters related to my school work a lot during my free time); (2) disengagement or cynicism with regard to the meaning of school (e.g., I feel a lack of motivation in my school work and often think of giving up; I feel that I am losing interest in my school work), and (3) feelings of inadequacy at school (e.g., I often have feelings of inadequacy with regard to my school work). There were three items for each of the three dimensions, all of which were rated on a six-point scale (1 = strongly disagree; 6 = strongly agree). We calculated separate sum scores at each of the four time points for the three dimensions and the overall burnout.

Inclusion Criteria: The inclusion criteria of the study were determined as being an 8th-grade student, speaking and understanding Turkish, and being able to perform daily life activities. Exclusion Criteria: having severe hearing or perceptual deficits that impaired communication; having dementia, Alzheimer's disease, depression, uncontrolled diabetes, hypertensive disease and surgical operations with the risk of bleeding.