Humour Workshops for Staff Working in Palliative Care

Palliative care teams frequently use humour as a coping instrument. Humour used within the professional team has to be distinguished from humour in the interaction with patients. Humour among staff members working in palliative settings is widely accepted and the positive effect has been demonstrated. Four humour-workshops were organized for staff working in a palliative care unit. All participants completed the State-Trait-Cheerfulness-Inventory (STCI-S and T) and the Distress-Thermometer. Before and after the last two workshops, saliva samples were collected for analysis of oxytocin concentrations. The humour workshops were performed by two coaches based on a concept for the use of humour and mindfulness in the nursing routine. Overall 31 staff members out of 37 participated. Representatives of all professions were included, 28 women, 3 men, 24 to 59 years old. Saliva samples demonstrated a small but not significant oxytocin increase from a mean of 1.52 pg/ml to 1.80 pg/ml after the intervention (p .26). The mean p value of distress was reduced from 5.24 to 3.90 with an effect of p = .05 and bad mood was reduced from 11.19 to 9.43 (p = .36), seriousness decreased from 15.06 to 12.26 (p .01) and cheerfulness changed from 16.33 to 19.03 (p = .02). Despite the small sample size, the reduction of distress and seriousness and the increase of cheerfulness was significant. The changes in Oxytocin and bad mood proved to not be significant. Feedback from participants confirmed the value of humour in palliative care.