Date of Award

Spring 5-2014

Degree Type

Honors College Thesis

Department

Nursing

First Advisor

Vickie L. Stuart

Advisor Department

Nursing

Abstract

This simple, quantitative study was carried out on 18, first-year, CRNA students to determine if humor could act as a buffer for some of his or her perceived stress. Before an impending final exam, when stress levels would most likely be at their highest, the students were broken into three groups: a control group, a non-humorous group, and a humorous group. The students in the control group ranked their level of stress on a 0-10 scale without any other intervention. The other two groups watched a video clip, either humorous or non-humorous, while ranking their perceived stress on a scale of 0-10. The group that watched the humorous film had a decrease of 43.9% in perceived stress vs. the non-humorous film group who had a decrease of 0%. The t-critical value was computed as ± 2.571 and the t statistic as 3.37, demonstrating the significant difference in a students stress level before and after he or she watched the humorous film. This change in perceived stress level implies that by adding forms of humor in the lives of high stress individuals, specifically CRNA students, could have positive implications by decreasing the amount of stress he or she senses.

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