Therapeutic play: developing humor in the nurse-patient relationship.

Although there has been considerable discussion on the therapeutic aspects of humor in the nurse-patient relationship, little is known about the experience of humor in actual nurse-patient relationships. This naturalistic study was conducted using grounded theory methodology with participant observation, utilizing in-depth interviews of participants in nurse-patient dyadic relationships in a suburban metropolitan New York acute care hospital. The core process was identified as Therapeutic Play, in which humor involves caring for self or another. This study offers nurses and others involved in professional relationships an explanation of the development of humor as an alternative healing-caring strategy.