Contributions of humor as perceived by the terminally ill.

Abstract

Humorasatherapeuticintervention has receivedincreasingattentionin recentyears.Folk wisdomhasforages heldthathumorhelpsus to bearlife’s burdens.1But, whenlife is nearingits end, doeshumorhavea role?Do the terminally ill perceivehumorasanappropriateandeffectivestrategyin light of the magnitudeof emotional and physical pain and loss? Doeshumor belonginhospicecare?Tobegintofind answersto thosequestionsthe author conducteda smallpilot studythatinvolved interviewing 14 tenninally ill adults regardingtheir perceptionsof andexperienceswith humor.Thepurposewas to clarify the conceptof humorandits contributionsduringterminal illness from the perspectiveof thosewho areterminally ill, sothatthe potentialroleof humorinhospicecare canbedelineated. Thefindingsareimportanttonursingbecausenursesarein a strategicposition to assistthe terminally ill and presentlyassumea majorrole inprovidinghospicecare.