Humor: a coping strategy for pediatric patients.

In the past 20 years, nurses have become concerned with children's response to stressors and their ability to cope with them. Humor is one strategy that pediatric nurses can use to help children cope with illness and hospitalizations. Although there is little scientific research, there is some theoretical and anecdotal support for the use of humor as a coping strategy. Understanding the developmental aspect of humor is essential for nurses and families, and McGhee's developmental stages of humor are linked to Piagetian stages of cognitive development. Additional discussion describes related diagnoses, assessment, and outcomes for humor interventions as well as considerations for determining the appropriate and inappropriate use of humor. Numerous activities to implement humor in pediatric clinical settings are presented. The need for further research to evaluate humor intervention as an effective coping strategy is recommended.