Brief take-home laughter yoga practice (B-TLYP): impact on multi-dimensional affects among Chinese adults in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT

Objective: To examine the impact of a brief take-home laughter yoga practice (B-TLYP) on the multi-dimensional affects among Chinese adults in Hong Kong.

Method: The intervention consisted of a one-hour workshop and 7-day home practice on laughter yoga exercises. Thirty-six adults (mean age: 48.3 years) joined the intervention and completed questionnaires on demographics and affect scales. Positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) were measured by the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS) at baseline, immediately and one week after the intervention. Repeated measure ANOVA was used to examine differences in PANAS scores across time.

Results: The mean score of PANAS PA subscale showed an increasing trend across time, whereas there was no difference in the mean score of PANAS NA subscale.

Discussion: This study provides preliminary support for the benefits of B-TLYP on adults’ positive affect.

KEYWORDS:

• Laughter exercise
• laughter yoga
• positive affect
• negative affect
• mental wellbeing
• stress emotion

Acknowledgements

To the center and association who have facilitated the subject recruitment and questionnaire distribution.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.