Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Nursing - Department of Psychiatric Nursing

Schizophrenia is a chronic disease characterized by distortions in thinking, perception, emotions, language, sense of self and behavior. Humor could be used as an alternative to conventional treatment with the goal of helping patients with schizophrenia cope with symptoms, enhance recovery through its emotional, cognitive, social and physiological effects. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of humor intervention program on positive and negative symptoms among schizophrenic patients. Randomized control trial (RCT) design was used. Purposive sample consisted of 40) schizophrenic patients, the study group (n= 20) and control group (n= 20).The patients were selected and allocated randomly into two groups, intervention group (received the humor interventions program) and control group (received traditional care). The study conducted in the Psychiatry and Addiction Prevention "El Kasr AlAini University Hospital and a1 Rakhawy Hospital for Mental Health.Tools used for data collection were; the Socio Demographic Data Sheet, Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PAN SS) and Multidimensional Sense of Humor Scale (MSHS). Results revealed that, there was a statistical significant difference between total score of PAN SS between study and control groups post intervention. The present study emphasizes the importance of humor intervention program in reducing severity of symptoms of patients with schizophrenia

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