Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Dec;45(6):568-577.
doi: 10.1111/1753-6405.13142. Epub 2021 Aug 19.

A systematic review of humour-based strategies for addressing public health priorities

Elaine Miller  1 , Heidi J Bergmeier  2 , Claire Blewitt  2 , Amanda O'Connor  2 , Helen Skouteris  2   3
Affiliations
Free article

A systematic review of humour-based strategies for addressing public health priorities

Elaine Miller et al. Aust N Z J Public Health. 2021 Dec.
Free article

Abstract

Objective: To systematically review research into the use of humour-based health promotion strategies for addressing public health issues during the past 10 years.

Method: The systematic review was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines.

Results: Thirteen studies were included in the review. Mental health, breast and testicular cancer self-examination, safe sex, skin cancer and binge drinking public health issues were targeted. Humour-based strategies were used to influence health attitudes and behaviours, encourage interpersonal sharing to indirectly affect health behaviour, and investigate the level of threat and humour associated with positive outcomes. Findings provided some evidence to support the use of humour-based strategies as determined by the right combination of audience characteristics, level of humour and amusement evoked, and message persuasion and behaviour change methods underpinning strategies.

Conclusion: Methodologies varied limiting comparability, although overall results indicate that humour-based health promotion strategies may be a useful tool for increasing awareness and help-seeking behaviour for public health priorities, particularly those associated with stigma. Implications for public health: Humour interventions vary widely because there can never be a standardised approach to evoking humour. Further research examining humour and public health promotion is needed.

Keywords: behaviour change; health promotion; humour; research translation; stigma.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Morris ZS, Wooding S, Grant J. The answer is 17 years, what is the question: Understanding time lags in translational research. J R Soc Med. 2011;104(12):510-20.
    1. Becker SJ. Directtoconsumer marketing: A complementary approach to traditional dissemination and implementation efforts for mental health and substance abuse interventions. Clin Psychol (New York). 2015;22(1):85-100.
    1. Almousa S, van Loon AB. The prevalence of urinary incontinence in nulliparous adolescent and middle-aged women and the associated risk factors: A systematic review. Maturitas. 2018;107:78-83.
    1. Green LW, Ottoson JM, Garcia C, Hiatt RA. Diffusion theory and knowledge dissemination, utilization, and integration in public health. Annu Rev Public Health. 2009;30:151-74.
    1. Nabi RL. Laughing in the face of fear (of disease detection): Using humor to promote cancer self-examination behavior. Health Commun. 2016;31(7):873-83.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources