The Effect of Humor Podcasts on Reducing Pain Scale among Older Adults with Osteoarthritis in the Community
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Abstract
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease in older adults that causes chronic pain and reduced quality of life. Innovative, inexpensive, and easily accessible non-pharmacological therapies remain limited. This study aims to analyze the effect of listening to humor podcasts on reducing pain scale among older adults with osteoarthritis in the community. The research design used a quasi-experimental method with a pretest-posttest control group approach. The sample consisted of 32 older adults (16 in the intervention group and 16 in the control group) selected using purposive sampling in the working area of Mulyo Asih Public Health Center. Pain was measured using the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS). The intervention group listened to the humor podcast “Ketawa Sehat” for 20 minutes every morning for 14 consecutive days, while the control group listened to recordings of general news readings. Data were analyzed using the Wilcoxon test for within-group comparison and the Mann-Whitney test for between-group comparison. The results showed that the mean NRS score in the intervention group decreased from 6.8 (SD±1.1) to 3.4 (SD±0.9), with a reduction of 3.4 points (p=0.000), while the control group only decreased from 6.6 (SD±1.2) to 6.1 (SD±1.0), with a difference of 0.5 points (p=0.231). The Mann-Whitney test showed a highly significant difference in pain reduction between the two groups (p=0.000). This study concludes that listening to humor podcasts is effective in reducing pain scale among older adults with knee osteoarthritis. It is recommended that gerontic nurses use humor podcasts as an independent complementary therapy in the community.
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