The use of humour in nursing education: An integrative review of research literature

Abstract

Objectives: Humour is an integral part of communication and often used in education to support learning, build relationships, lessen stress, and create a positive environment. This paper presents results from an integrative review of literature that aimed to explore how humour is used in nursing education.

Design: Integrative literature review.

Data sources: CINAHL, INFORMIT, Medline and Proquest education.

Review methods: An integrative review of published research was conducted in the above-mentioned databases during March to June 2022. A hand search in reference lists of published articles was also conducted. Search terms followed PEO (population, exposure and outcome) and included 'Faculty, Nursing', 'Nurse* Student*', 'Baccalaureate', 'Humo?r', 'Laugh*', 'Wit', 'Fun*', 'Comedy', 'Educat*', 'Teach*', 'Learn*' and 'Curricul*'. Inclusion criteria stated articles must have a research component investigating how humour is used and received by students in nursing education. The articles were peer reviewed and published after 2001. Conference abstracts, editorials and articles describing the use of humour in nursing education without research evidence were excluded. Grey literature was not included.

Results: The search yielded two hundred and one articles, 10 of which met the inclusion criteria. Studies were primarily qualitative (n = 9) with 1 quantitative study. Five themes were found among the articles (1) Humour builds social relationships (2) Humour aids learning/critical thinking (3) Humour and stress relief (4) Humour to focus attention and (5) Negative use of humour.

Conclusion: Findings suggest that the use of humour in nursing education lowers stress, improves attention, increases focus and improved information retention. However, findings also conclude that negative humour is not conducive to learning. Research is needed to explore the use of humour in nurse education in order to develop teaching approaches that include culturally sensitive humour to enhance the student learning experience and reduce stress.

Keywords: Attention; Education; Humour; Learning; Nursing students; Stress relief; Teaching.