The Effect of Laughter Yoga Applied to Nursing Students on Exam Anxiety and Spirituality

November 25, 2025 updated by: Hande Tiftikci, Kırıkkale University

This study is planned as a randomized controlled trial to determine the effect of laughter yoga on the exam anxiety and spirituality levels of nursing students. The research will be conducted with 100 second-year nursing students between 04.2025 and 06.2025. Students who meet the inclusion criteria will be randomized and divided into two groups: the experimental group (n=36) and the control group (n=36). All participating students will be administered the "Demographic Characteristics Form," "Exam Anxiety Scale," and "Spirituality Scale" (pre-test).

The experimental group will undergo laughter yoga sessions twice a week for 4 weeks, totaling 8 sessions.

The control group will only complete the "Demographic Characteristics Form," "Exam Anxiety Scale," and "Spirituality Scale" (pre-test). No intervention will be applied to the control group.

After the laughter yoga sessions are completed, both the experimental and control groups will complete the "Demographic Characteristics Form," "Exam Anxiety Scale," and "Spirituality Scale" (post-test).

The collected data will be analyzed using SPSS 22 software.

Study Overview

Status

Active, not recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Research Hypotheses:

Laughter yoga reduces exam anxiety in nursing students. Laughter yoga increases the spirituality levels of nursing students. This research aims to examine the effects of laughter yoga on exam anxiety and spirituality levels in nursing students. The researcher has completed a two-day "Laughter Yoga Leader" training with an Internationally Certified Laughter Yoga Instructor and has received the "Laughter Yoga Trainer Training" certificate. The study was conducted with an experimental design, including an experimental group and a control group. The interventions were applied by the researcher, who holds the "Laughter Yoga Leader" certification.

The sample was selected using the simple random sampling method, and participants were initially administered the "Demographic Information Form," "Exam Anxiety Scale," and "Spirituality Scale." After obtaining ethical committee approval, laughter yoga sessions were applied to students in the experimental group, while no intervention was provided to the control group. As the study was designed experimentally, both groups were initially evaluated using the same measurement tools, and then the experimental group underwent laughter yoga sessions. After the laughter yoga sessions, data were collected from both groups using the same measurement tools, and changes in exam anxiety and spirituality levels were analyzed.

The collected data were evaluated to analyze the changes in exam anxiety and spirituality levels. This study aims to determine the effects of laughter yoga on reducing exam anxiety and increasing spirituality levels in nursing students.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

36

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Turkey (Türkiye)
    • Turkey
      • Kırıkkale, Turkey, Turkey (Türkiye), 71450
        • Kirikkale University

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Being a 2nd-year student in the Nursing Department
  • Able to speak and understand Turkish
  • Voluntarily agreeing to participate in the study
  • No visual or hearing impairments
  • No history of psychiatric illness
  • No current or past use of psychotropic medication

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Refusal to participate in the study
  • Inability to speak or understand Turkish
  • Diagnosed psychiatric illness and/or use of psychotropic agents
  • Previous participation in laughter yoga
  • Physical limitations or respiratory problems preventing yoga practice
  • Difficulty in performing breathing exercises due to conditions such as septum deviation
  • Abdominal surgery within the past 6 months

Drop-out Criteria:

  • Failure to attend any of the laughter yoga sessions
  • Receiving a new diagnosis that contraindicates laughter yoga during the 4-week intervention period

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Other
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Control
No application was made to the control group, standard procedure was followed.
Experimental: intervention
Participants in the intervention group received laughter yoga sessions twice a week for a total of four weeks.
Other: laughter yoga
Participants in the intervention group received laughter yoga sessions twice a week for a total of four weeks.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in exam anxiety levels as measured by the Test Anxiety Scale
Time Frame: Baseline and post-intervention (Week 4)

Exam anxiety will be assessed using a validated Test Anxiety Scale before and after the 4-week laughter yoga intervention.

The mean score difference between pre-test and post-test will be analyzed using paired samples t-test.
Baseline and post-intervention (Week 4)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in spirituality levels as measured by the Spirituality Scale
Time Frame: Baseline and post-intervention (Week 4)

Spirituality levels will be measured using a validated Spirituality Scale at the beginning and end of the intervention.

Differences in mean scores will be analyzed with paired t-tests to determine statistical significance.
Baseline and post-intervention (Week 4)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Kırıkkale University

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Hande Tiftikci, Kırıkkale University

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

February 24, 2025

Primary Completion (Estimated)

April 27, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

April 27, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 10, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 16, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

April 24, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimated)

December 3, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 25, 2025

Last Verified

November 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • KKU-SBF-HT-01

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

The confidentiality of the data used in the study will be protecte

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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