They enter chemotherapy with laughter
Dr. Yasemin Çıracı Yaşar, an associate professor at the Department of Internal Medicine Nursing at Atatürk University Faculty of Nursing and an internationally certified "laughter yoga" instructor, observed low morale and stress in patients coming to the outpatient chemotherapy unit at the research hospital.
Thereupon, Yaşar, with the support of Atatürk University Scientific Research Projects (BAP) Coordination Unit, brought the "Come on, Smile, Despite Cancer" project to life with the support of Prof. Dr. Mehmet Bilici, Head of the Medical Oncology Department of the Faculty of Medicine, and Prof. Dr. Mehtap Tan, Head of the Internal Medicine Nursing Department.
As part of the project, patients who start the session with breathing exercises in groups before chemotherapy in October by Dr. Lecturer Yaşar are made to do "laughter yoga".
Cancer patients who smile and laugh a lot during yoga enter chemotherapy cheerful, happy and in high spirits.
Dr. Lecturer Yaşar said that in cancer treatment, doctors plan and implement the most appropriate and safe treatment for patients.
Stating that patients may experience some physical and psychological symptoms during this process, Yaşar said, "Laughter therapy is a good method to reach the souls of patients and make them feel psychologically comfortable. International studies also argue that laughter therapy is a very effective therapy method, especially on the psychological symptoms experienced by patients such as stress, anxiety and depression."
Yaşar explained that from this point on, they started to apply laughter therapy to patients by conducting a multidisciplinary study.
Yaşar, who stated that they applied one session per week for approximately 30-40 minutes in groups to patients in the chemotherapy unit within the scope of the project, said: "We start the sessions with breathing exercises. We prepare our patients for laughter therapy by taking a breath. Because our patients need to relax, then we slowly move on to the laughter session. There are many forms of laughter yoga. You can make many patients laugh, but cancer patients are a very special group. Therefore, the form in which we will apply laughter yoga is a bit more limited. Before the therapy, patients came to chemotherapy as outpatients, unhappy and stressed. Patients who have laughter therapy enter chemotherapy laughing. At the same time, it is pleasing to us that patients report that their stress and anxiety levels in their social lives have decreased."
Yaşar pointed out that the study they conducted on a national basis was pioneering and said that they will publish a scientific study showing that this therapy reduces stress and anxiety levels in cancer patients and alleviates symptoms based on the data they obtained.
Yaşar, who said that they wanted to touch the souls of the patients with the study, said, "What we plan and want to achieve with laughter therapy is to touch the souls of the patients. Then, to reduce their stress and depression levels, to relieve their anxiety and to remind them how strong they are."
"WE REFRESH AND SMILE BEFORE CHEMOTHERAPY"Fatma Çelikbilek, 43, one of the session participants, also stated that laughter therapy also benefited her social life.
Çelikbilek, who stated that he started the sessions after seeing the therapy applied to the patients, said, "Before chemotherapy, we feel relieved, smile and get rid of the sadness inside us. This therapy is very useful and beautiful. We forget everything here. We start the session with breathing therapy, oxygen is very important for chemotherapy. Then we develop our facial muscles and smile. The sadness on our face goes away and we look at everything positively."
Çelikbilek stated that he was satisfied with the hospital services, doctors and nurses, and recommended that all chemotherapy patients receive laughter therapy.
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