NCT06204562

Feasibility and Effects of Laughter-imitation Therapy (LIT)

Feasibility and Effects of Laughter-imitation Therapy (LIT) in Promoting Mental Wellbeing Among Institutional Older Adults

• Status: Active Not Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 30 (estimated)
• Sponsor: The University of Hong Kong · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 65 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

Background: The mental wellbeing of the institutional population has to be promoted, particularly after the serious hit by the pandemic. Objectives: 1. To develop a LIT intervention to promote mental wellbeing of institutional older adults 2. To explore the feasibility and acceptability of such intervention; 3. To explore the potential effect of the intervention Design and subject: A pilot cluster randomized control trial will be conducted. The target population is institutional older adults. About 30 participants will be recruited from 2 nursing homes. The intervention is one-month imitated laughter practice. Each practice session lasts for 3 minutes once a day, giving a total of 21 minutes per week and the waitlist control group will be under usual care for the first 8 weeks. Then, they will start intervention after the 8 week, and receive two additional outcome assessments. A brief one-to-one training will be offered and a trained research assistant (RA1). Further in-person demonstration and return demonstration will be conducted until participant is able to demonstrate the Duchenne smile on their own. RA1 will be on-site for two days in the first week and one day in the second week to support the participants. At the end of the intervention, qualitative feedback will be collected from purposive sample until data saturation. Instruments: Chinese version including the World Health Organization Five Well-Being Index (WHO-5), 4-item Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), 5-min Montreal Cognitive Assessment, FRAIL scale, Geriatric Adverse Life Events Scale (GALES). Main outcome measures: Feasibility and acceptability of laughter-imitation therapy (LIT) Data analysis: Descriptive statistics will be calculated for participants' characteristics, practice frequency, satisfaction, and health outcomes. Linear mixed-effects models will be used to evaluate health outcomes. Content analysis will be conducted for qualitative feedback. Expected results: The intervention is expected to be feasible and acceptable to institutional older adults as a means for promoting mental wellbeing, and potential beneficial effects will be demonstrated.

Conditions

• Aging Well

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	imitated laughter practice	To imitate laughter, participants will practice "Duchenne smile", which is reported to associate with positive emotion in people producing it If participants cannot imitate a Duchenne smile, they can hold a chopstick horizontally in their mouth tightly. To help timing the 3-minute and to enhance adherence, an audio recording with joyous music and vocal instruction will be played alongside the practice. Versions with or without laugh voice will be prepared for their preferences. A logbook will be given to each participant to record their practice. To remind participants to practise, a reminder will be made each day through the public announcement system of the respective nursing home, and the audio guide will be played.

Timeline

• Start date: 2023-09-06
• Primary completion: 2025-08-31
• Completion: 2026-01-31
• First posted: 2024-01-12
• Last updated: 2025-03-28

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Hong Kong