Fun & Humor can Reduce Anxiety & Psychological Distress amongst Cancer Patients

Abstract

Humor has been acknowledged in different fields especially known as a strong communication tool. However, very little researches are available concerning overcoming the psychological health of cancer patients through involvement in humorous activities. This study has novelty as it investigated the effects of humor on psychological distress and anxiety. The sample of the study was cancer patients who were living in Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Snowball sampling technique was used and the study was cross-sectional. The response rate was 92% as 125 questionnaires were distributed among those 115 selected for further analysis. The data was collected through a self-administered questionnaire from the different hospitals of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Moreover, the data was collected in two phases. In the first phase, we identified the cancer patients who were having the symptoms of psychological distress and anxiety and in the second phase again data was collected after the humor. Factor Analysis, multicollinearity, linearity, normality, regression, and correlations have been tested and results showed that humor is having negatively significant results on psychological distress and anxiety. Whereas collectivism was taken as a moderator in the current study and we found that it is not moderating between humor and psychological distress as well as between humor and anxiety. The discussion, limitations, and future gaps are also discussed.