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HaHaCare for rural home based care workers
 
This article was written by The International Laughter Institute and has been published in this newsletter and our website with their kind permission.  For further details about HaHaCare and the International Laughter Institute, please go to www.inlaughter.org.
 
Summary of a preliminary study of the self-reported results from rural home based caregivers after training and following a new Aerobic Laughter Therapy (ALT) program for 2 weeks.

This exciting new training and practice program for caregivers delivers the powerful benefits of Aerobic Laughter™ to this highly stressed group and provides a cost-effective alternative to debriefing.

The HaHaCare™ program is designed to teach caregiver groups to practice ALT as a group in daily 20 minute sessions. The program includes ongoing monitoring & evaluation by International Laughter Institute.

The HaHaCare™ program is being implemented for 1000 rural home based caregivers as part of the PEPFAR-funded Family Health International (FHI) MSU program. To date 340 caregivers in 17 groups have been trained in the SA provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga. Training in other provinces will continue over the next months.

DISCUSSION

Participants consistently reported substantial decreases in stress, mood swings and depression. In interviews many described years of depression suddenly lifting as a result of this program. Results shown are mean scores for 85 caregivers. All participants identified their caregiver duties as the major but not sole cause of their mood and mental state problems. A number had been on antidepressant treatment for months or years, with some already having this treatment terminated by their medical provider since HaHaCare™ program commencement.

Participants consistently reported significant decreases in medical and physiological problems.

Participants consistently reported significant decreases in relational problems including problems with family, problems with spouse, sexual problems, problems with children, problems with community, problems with other caregivers, and problems with patients. These problems were attributed to stress from care giving, and quickly improved as a result of the HaHaCare™ program.

By lunchtime on the day of training participants consistently reported a new understanding of how stress negatively influenced their lives and those of their family, community and patients. They were happy, smiling and laughing, had experienced how stress can be substantially reduced through laughter therapy, and believed they had been given a powerful tool that could change their life and the lives of those around them.

While the program was designed to teach caregiver groups to practice laughter therapy within their groups, it is significant that each caregiver voluntarily extended ALT therapy to their family, their patients, and in most cases also to other groups including community, OVC groups, schools and more.

These results were first presented at the 2009 SA AIDS Conference.

9 April 2009 © International Laughter Institute - Tel+27 82 470 5924 www.inlaughter.org. HaHaCare™ & Aerobic Laughter™ are trademarks of ILI