The effect of laughter therapy on happiness and self‐esteem level in 5th grade students

Problem The study was conducted to examine the effects of laughter therapy on happiness level and self‐esteem in 5th grade students. Methods This study used an experimental study with pretest posttest control group. The study population consisted of 5th grade students studying at a secondary school in Turkey. There were six branches in the 5th grade. Groups were randomly selected from among these 5th grade classes to include 29 students in the intervention group and 32 in the control group. Laughter therapy sessions were applied to the intervention group twice a week for 4 weeks. No intervention was offered to the control group. The data were collected by a questionnaire, the School Children's Happiness Inventory, and the Coopersmith Self‐Esteem Inventory. Results It was determined that there was a statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of the School Children's Happiness Inventory (p