The Effect of Pursed Lip Breathing Exercise and Laughter Therapy Individuals With The COPD

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease is a chronic disease with increasing mortality, morbidity and prevalence in the world and in our country, and in which serious symptoms, especially dyspnea, develop. Due to dyspnea and symptoms, patients experience deterioration in their health status and an increase in care dependency. This research is a single-blind, randomized controlled experimental study designed to determine the effects of pursed lip breathing exercise and laughter therapy on dyspnea severity, health status and care dependence in individuals with COPD. The research will be carried out with a total of 63 patients in Ankara City Hospital Chest Diseases unit. The patients will be stratified according to smoking status and COPD Assessment Test scores with the randomization program and assigned to 2 intervention groups and 1 control group. During the first interview, patients in the 1st intervention group will be provided with pursed lip breathing exercise training and application, and training videos and brochures will be given. 2. The patients in the intervention group will be given laughter therapy training and practice, and an educational brochure will be given. The patients in the control group will also receive face-to-face training on lung structure and functioning, and a brochure will be given. Patients in the laughter therapy and pursed lip breathing exercise intervention groups will be asked to perform these practices three days a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) for 8 weeks. At the beginning of the study, at the 4th, 8th, and 12th weeks, the Dyspnea 12-TR Scale, the COPD Evaluation Test, and the Care Dependency Scale will be administered to both the intervention and control group patients. In the application of the scales and the analysis of the data, the groups will be blinded, and the scale application will be made by an independent interviewer. After the analysis of the data in terms of normal distribution was done with the Kolmogorow Smirnov test