Abstract:
High blood pressure or hypertension is often referred to as the silent
killer because it is a deadly disease. Prevention of hypertension can be done with
several efforts, it is pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapy. One of
the non-pharmacological methods that can be used is laughter therapy. This
study aimed to determine the effect of laughter therapy on blood pressure
changes in elderly with hypertension. The study design was pre-experimental
with one group time series design approach. The population in this study was all
the elderly who had hypertension and were treated at the Geriatric Clinic at
Bangil Pasuruan Hospital as many as 39 respondents. The sampling technique of
this study was consecutive sampling. The number of samples were 20
respondents. This study instrument were sphygmomanometer, stethoscope and
SOP. Data analysis used paired t test. The results suggested that blood pressure
in hypertensive patients at the first meeting was 162 mmHg, and the average
diastolic pressure was 98.5 mmHg before laughing therapy. The eighth day
suggested that the average systolic pressure was 129.5 mmHg, and the average
diastolic pressure was 82.2 mmHg after laughing therapy. The results of the
paired T test suggested the pvalue = 0.000 so that there was an effect of laughter
therapy on blood pressure changes in elderly with hypertension at the Geriatric
Clinic, Bangil Pasuruan Hospital. Laughter will increase the flow of blood and
oxygen in the blood, so that the blood vessels become elastic again and there is
dilation of the blood vessels which causes blood circulation to be smooth and
blood pressure to return to normal.
