A Study to Assess the Effectiveness of Laughter and Humor on Stress among Police Personnel at Selected Police Regiment in Mysore

 

Ms. Karma Dolma¹, Ms. Saraswathi K.N.² and Prof. Sheela Williams³

¹II year M. Sc (N) Student, JSS College of Nursing, Mysore

 ²Assistant Professor, JSS College of Nursing, Mysore

 ³Principal, JSS College of Nursing, Mysore

 

ABSTRACT:

Stress is a major problem in our life, there is no person in this world without stress. Stress is a fact of life and is inevitable in this age of intense competition, increases expectation and innumerable other activators of stress. Nevertheless, stress has always been present and will continue to be present irrespective of gender, age, social class, and profession.¹

 

“A study to assess the effectiveness of laughter and humor on stress among police personnel at selected police regiment in Mysore”.

 

Major findings and results:

In the pretest, among the experimental group majority 16(53.33%) had moderate stress and 14(46.66%) had severe stress. In the post test among the experimental group majority 17(56.66%) had mild stress and 12(40%) had moderate stress. In the pre test, among the control group majority 19(63.33%) had moderate stress 10(33.33%) had severe stress. In post test, among the control group majority 17(56.66%) had severe stress and 13(43.33%) had moderate stress.

 

The mean pre test stress level score is 190.9 with a standard deviation of ±36.40 in experimental group and 185.5 with a standard deviation of ±28.087 in control group. The mean post test stress level score is 140.96 with a standard deviation ±36.21 in experimental group and 209.1with a standard deviation ±27.8 in control group.

 

The significance of difference in mean pre test stress level scores among experimental and control group, computed an independent ‘t’  value’₍₅₈₎=0.66 p>0.05 was found to be not significant.

 

With regards  to association between stress level scores and demographic variables of police personnel, age of police personnel was found to be significant and other variables such as educational status , marital status, number of members in family, type of family designation , monthly income , years of experiences and any physiological illness were found to be non significant at p<0.05

.

CONCLUSION:

The findings of the study revealed that there is laughter and humor video show was effective  in reducing the level of stress among police personnel.

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

The word stress is derived from a Latin word “stringer” that means to bind tight and it is the shortened form of distress which denote noxious human experiences. It was Hans Selye who introduces stress in life science. Stress experience by two individual in same situation is different and it can evoke both positive and negative effect on its victims. This is due to differences in perception of stress.²

 

Hans Selye conceptualized stress as non specific response of body to any demand made upon it or stressor. Many different events, factors, stimuli can be called stressors. They can be physiologic or emotional / psychological stressors. Physiologic stressors can be sunburn, chronic pain, excessive noise, infectious diseases and birth of baby. Emotional/ psychological stressors can be diagnosis of cancer or AIDS, marital problems, failing on examination.³

 

Hans Selye, the fore most researcher of stress in the world, said that “police work is the most stressful occupation in America even surpassing the formidable stresses of air traffic control”. Police work is often regarded as an extremely stressful occupation, and personnel involved in field duties often reported variety of psychological, behavioral and health related problems.⁴

 

The link between laughter and mental health is that laughter dissolves stressing emotions, laughter helps to reduce stress and increases energy, enabling to stay focused and accomplished more; humor allow us to see situation in a more realistic, less threatening light. Humor can take form of laughter, cartoon, funny movie or videos, comic books and joke book. In short laughter stimulates immune system.⁵

 

NEED FOR THE STUDY:

According to International Association of firefighter (IAFF) in the year 1994 - 1998, interesting fact was identified that emergency service personnel are at higher risk for stress related disease and death than almost any other occupation in world. And also in the year 2002 alone, 262  firefighter, police across the North America died in the line of duty with hundred more resigning and taking early retirement due to stress related illness.⁶

 

Prevalence of stress among police in India was reported by International Conference on economics and finance research revealed that, causes of stress as perceived by respondent or political pressure is about (71.2%), about 68.2% are of lack of time for family, 62.1% of police had stress due to non cooperation from public and negative public image. About 48.1 % are due to work overload and 48.55% are due to frequent transfer.⁶

 

OBJECTIVES:

1.      To assess the stress level scores among police personnel in experimental and control group.

2.      To evaluate the effectiveness of laughter and humor video in terms of reduction in stress level scores among police personnel in experimental group.

3.      To determine the association of stress level scores among police personnel with their selected personal variables.

 

RESEARCH HYPOTHESES:

H₁: The mean post test stress level scores of police personnel who have undergone laughter and humor video show will be significantly lower than their mean pretest stress level scores.

H₂: The mean post test stress level scores of police personnel who have undergone laughter and humor video show will be significantly lower than the mean post test stress level score of police who have not undergone laughter and humor video show.

H₃: The stress level among police personnel will have significant association with their selected personal variables.

 

OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS:

Effectiveness: effectiveness refers to the significant reduction in stress level scores among police personnel after the administration of laughter and humor video as measured by the decreased post test stress level scores on modified police stress inventory (PSI) scale.

 

Laughter and humor: It refers to relaxation technique which claims beneficial effects from the use of positive emotions associated with laughter and humor video.

Stress: Stress as a response to an environmental demand or stressor. In this study stresses refers to poor concentration, memory problems distressing dreams, sleep disturbances, changing eating habit, drinking alcohol excessively, become irritable and is assessed by  modified police stress inventory scale.

 

Police personnel: Police personnel refer to individuals whose work is highly stressful where one continually faces the effect of murders, violent assault, accident and serious personal injury.

 

Police regiment: Police regiment refers to the police station where police men gather for duty.

 

STUDY VARIABLES:

a.      Dependent variable: Stress level among police personnel.

b.      Independent variable: Laughter and humor video

c.       Demographic variable: Age, gender, educational status, religion, marital status, number of members in family, type of family, designation, monthly income (in rupees), years of experience, any physiological illness and any laughter and humor programmes undergone previously.

 

METHODOLOGY:

Research design: Quasi experimental non equivalent pre test- post test control group design was selected.

Setting: The study was conducted in KSRP police regiment and city armed reserved police regiment in Mysore.

Sample and sample size: Police personnel in selected police regiment in Mysore. Sample size was 60, 30 in Experimental (KSRP) and 30 in control group(CAR).

Sampling technique: Non probability convenience sampling technique.

Description of tool: Following tools were used to collected the data

Section A: Demographic profile of police personnel are, age, gender, education status, religion,  marital status, number of members in family, type of family, designation, monthly income (in rupees), years of experiences (years) any physiological illness and previously attended any laughter and humor programme.

 

Section B: Modified police stress inventory scale.

The minimum score is 30 and the maximum is 270. The total score was further divided based on  the severity of stress.

The standard cut- off are follows:

·        No stress = <81

·        Mild stress = 82-135

·        Moderate stress = 136-204

·        Severe stress =205-270

 

 

 

RESULTS:

Section 1: Demographic variables of police personnel

Tables1: Frequency and percentage distribution of police personnel in experimental and control group according to their demographic variables. n=60

Sl. No.	Personal variables	Experimental Group n=30		Control Group n=30		Total Frequency (%)
		f	%	f	%
1	Age in years a)       21-30 b)       31-40 c)       41-50 d)       51-60	00 07 15 08	00 23.33 50 26.66	02 10 10 08	6.66 33.33 33.33 26.66	02(3.33) 17(28.33) 25(41.66) 16(26.66)
2	Gender a)       Male b)       Female	30 00	100 00	30 00	100 00	60(100) 0(0)
3	Educational status a)       SSLC b)       II PUC c)       Degree d)       Post graduation	12 12 06 00	40 40 20 00	09 11 10 00	30 36.66 33.33 00	21(35) 23(38.33) 16(26.66) 0(0)
4	Religion a) Hindu b) Christian c) Muslim d) Others	30 0 0 0	100 0 0 0	30 0 0 0	100 0 0 0	60(100) 0(0) 0(0) 0(0)
5	Marital status a)       Married b)       Unmarried c)       Divorced/ separated	24 05 01	80 16.66 3.33	20 04 06	66.66 13.33 20	44(73.33) 09(15) 07( 11.6)
6	Number of members in family a)       1-2 b)       3-4 c)       5 and above	02 20 08	6.66 66.66 26.66	00 26 04	00 86.66 13.66	02(3.33) 46(76) 12(20)
7	Type of  family a)       Nuclear b)       Joint c)       Extended	18 10 02	60 33.33 6.66	20 10 00	66.66 33.33 00	38(63.33) 20(33.33) 02(3.33)
8	Designation a) Police constable b) Head constable c) Assistant sub inspector d) Sub inspector	23 07 00 00	76.66 23.33 00 00	25 05 00 00	83.33 16.66 00 00	48(80) 12(20) 0(0) 0(0)
9	Monthly income in rupees a)       Below 10,000  b)       10,001-15,000 c)       15,001-20,000 d)       20,001 above	00 02 18 10	00 6.66 60.66 33.33	00 03 21 06	00 10 70 20	0(0) 05(8.33) 39(65) 16(26.66)
10	Years of experience a)       Up to 3 years b)       4-6 years c)       7-9 years d)       10 years and above	00 01 01 28	00 3.33 3.33 93.33	00 02 05 23	00 6.66 16.66 76.66	0(0) 03(5) 06(10) 51(85)
11	Any physiological  illness a)       Yes b)       No	12 18	40 60	15 15	50 50	27(45) 33(55)
12	Any laughter and humor programme undergone previously a)       Yes b)       No	00 30	00 100	00 30	00 100	0(0) 60(100)

 

Section 2: Effectiveness of laughter and humor video show

Table 2: Frequency and percentage distribution of police personal according to their stress level scores in experimental and control group n=60

 

 

Table 3: Mean, median, range and standard deviation of pre test and post test stress level scores of police personnel in experimental and control group n=60      

Group	Pre test stress level scores				Post test stress level scores
	Mean	Median	Range	SD	Mean	Median	Range	SD
Experimental n=30	190.9	196	139-260	±36.40	140.96	132.5	56-202	± 36.21
Control n=30	185.5	194	132-225	±28.087	209.1	213.5	149-266	±27.8

 

 

Table 4: Mean, mean difference, standard deviation difference, SEMD and independent ‘t’ test for pre test stress scores of  police personnel in experimental and control group.                                        n=60

Group	Mean	Mean  difference	SD  difference	SEMD	Independent ‘t’ test
Experimental group n=30	190.9	05.4	±8.313	8.39	0.66
Control group n=30	185.5

‘t’₍₅₈₎=1.67, (p>0.05)

 

 

Table 5: Mean, mean difference, SD difference, standard error and paired ‘t’ test value of pre test and post test stress level scores of police personnel in experimental and control group.             n=60

Stress level Score	Mean	Mean difference	SD  difference	SEMD	Paired ‘t’test value
Experimental group n=30 Pre test Post test	190.9 140.96	49.94	±0.19	09.32	9.22*
Control group n=30 Pre test Post test	185.5 209.1	23.6	±0.287	07.21	0.99

t₍₂₉₎=2.045; p<0.05; p>0.05; *=Significant.

 

 

Table 6: Mean, mean difference, SD difference, standard error and independent ‘t ‘value of post test stress level scores of police personnel in experimental and control group. n=60

Group	Mean difference	SD difference	SEMD	Independent ‘t’ test
Experimental group  n=30	68.14	±8.41	08.3	08.47*
Control  groupn=30

 ‘t’ ₍₅₈₎: 1.67; p<0.05; *= Significant

 

 

 

Section3: Findings related to association between stress level scores of police personnel with their selected personal variables.

Table 7: Chi square value between pretest stress level scores of police personnel with their selected personal variables. n=60

S.NO	Personal variables	Mild and moderate stress	severe stress	chi-square  values
1	Age in years 21- 40 41- 60	19 17	0 24	Fisher’s exact probability=0.0*
2	Educational status SSLC/ II PUC Degree/ Post Graduate	24 12	20 04	0.64#NS
3	Marital status Married Unmarried/ divorced	24 12	20 04	0.64#NS
4	Number of family 1-4 5 and more	28 8	20 04	.019#NS
5	Type of family Nuclear Joint /extended	20 16	18 06	0.132NS
6	Designation    Police constable Others	25 11	23 01	2.36#NS
7	Monthly income Below 20,000 20,001andabove	28 08	16 08	0.90NS
8	Years of experience (year) Below 9 10 and above	0 4 32	05 19	0 .068NS
9	Any physiological  illness Yes No	17 19	10 14	0.179NS

Chi-square (1) 3.84 p>0.05, # Yates correction done  NS- not  significant,    *- significant.

 

 

RECOMMENDATIONS:

1.     Adequate job benefits should be provided to the police personnel.

2.     Health professionals especially community psychiatric nurse should conduct regular health checkups and screen the risk factors.

3.     Comparative study can be done to assess the severity of stress and its coping strategies between male and female police personnel.

4.     A longitudinal study can be conducted to determine the long term effectiveness of laughter and humor on stress.

5.     Police official should involve the relaxation techniques such as yoga, meditation and laughter and humor programme for the police personnel in their daily schedule.

 

CONCLUSION:

In the pre test, among the experimental group majority 16(53.33%) had moderate stress and 14(46.66%) had severe stress. In the post test among the experimental group majority 17(56.66%) had mild stress and 12(40%) had moderate stress.

In the pre test, among the control group majority 19(63.33%) had moderate stress 10(33.33%) had severe stress. In post test, among the control group majority 17(56.66%) had severe stress and 13(43.33%) had moderate stress.

 

With regards to associations between the stress level scores and demographic variables of police personnel. Age of police personnel was found to be significant and other variables  such as educational status, marital status, number of members in family, type of family, designation, monthly income, years of experience and any physiological illness was found to be not significant at p<0.05.

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

The author express their profound sense of gratitude to Police Commissioner for granting permission to conduct project work and heartfelt thanks to all Police personnel who  participated in this project work.

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

1.     Rakesh Kumar Singh. stress management in CRPF, Indian police journal 4(2); 2007: 45.

2.       Clifford T. Morgan. Introduction to psychology, edited by Tata Mc Graw- Hill, New Delhi.2007; 7^th ed: pp. 321-324.

3.       Lewis, Heitkemper and Dirksen. Medical and surgical nursing. 6^th ed. philiadelphia: Elsevier; 2011.

4.       Dinesh Nagar. A study of occupational stress and health in police personnel. Indian journal of police 6(4); 2009:47-51.

5.       Paul E, Mc Ghee. Laughter is the best medicine. Review. Available from : URL: http://www.helpguide.org/2010

6.       Carmen Moran. Does the use of humor as coping strategy effect stress associated with emergency work. International journal of mass education disaster 8(3); 1990: 361-77.

 

 

Received on 23.03.2014           Modified on 12.05.2014

Accepted on 20.05.2014           © A&V Publication all right reserved