Learning with Laughter: Using Humor in the Nursing Classroom

The anxiety experienced by nursing students in classroom and clinical, compounded by the normal student stressors of work, family, and finances, is well known. Nursing is a serious business, requiring intense education, but educators may find that humor is the key to helping students retain content in the classroom setting (Garner, 2006). Humor has been the subject of considerable educational research. It can stimulate interest in learning, increase mental acuity, promote understanding and bonding (Beck, 1997; Garner, 2006; Nahas, 1998), and lead to the creation of effective teaching-learning environments and teacher-student relationships (Wanzer, Frymier, Wojtaszczyk, & Smith, 2006). Humor is used in many disciplines, and multiple theories have been employed to describe its use (Adamle, Chiang-Hanisko, Ludwick, Zeller, & Brown, 2007). This author finds that this dictionary definition of humor - "the mental faculty of discovering, expressing, or appreciating the ludicrous or absurdly incongruous" - helps explain how "ha-ha can lead to aha" (Garner, 2006). By engaging one's emotional processes, humor helps bridge the gap between the cognitive and affective domains (Ulloth, 2003a) and promotes tolerance and awareness, feelings of satisfaction, and valuing through acceptance. Physiologically, humor, with the laughter that follows, improves respiration, circulation, lowers blood pressure, and releases endorphins into the bloodstream (Garner, 2006). The instructor who uses humor is seen as one who is more human, lessening the social distance that exists between faculty and student (Nahas, 1998). The caring learning environment that results provides a forum for reciprocal support, sharing, and empathy (Beck, 2001). Beck's research on the use of humor in nursing practice (1997) provides five themes that transfer to education: * Humor eases difficult situations. * Humor creates cohesiveness. * Humor can be an effective therapeutic communication technique. * Humor may be planned or spontaneous * Sharing humor creates lasting effects. What to Do and What Not to Do Most nurse educators are not natural stand-up comics or humorists, but that should not stop them from using humor in their classrooms. However, doing so requires conscious effort, at least at first (Nahas, 1998). That effort takes the form of increasing eye contact, creating a casual environment, adopting a laugh-ready attitude, and providing humorous materials (Torek, McMorris, & Lin, 2004). Most nurse educators need to do their homework to use humor effectively. First, look for sources of humor in books, videos, newspapers, or journals. Create a humor resource kit categorized according to the subjects you teach as a readily accessible resource (Ulloth, 2003b). The Internet is a rich source of medical and nursing humor, so keep an online file of material to use with presentations. Be conscious of events in everyday life that can be applied to the classroom (Ulloth, 2003b). "Humor is everywhere, in that there's irony in just about anything a human does" (Nye, 2005). As Will Rogers noted, "There is no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you" (Moncur, n.d.). Involving your authences in role playing or skits breaks down barriers and often leads to humorous situations (Lee & Lamp, 2003). Memorize your material and become well acquainted with the technology you are using to allow for a smooth presentation (Ulloth, 2003b). Funny stories are the predominant form of humor used by teachers, with funny comments and jokes coming in second and third (Ulloth, 2003a). Berk (1996) identified seven forms of humor that successfully integrate into classroom use: quotations, cartoons, multiple-choice items, top 10 lists, anecdotes, skits and dramatizations, and planned ad-libs. Games that captivate the authence can provide opportunities for serious learning (Borja, 2006). …