217EFFECT OF HUMOR THERAPY ON THE QUALITY OF LIFE AMONG ELDERLY IN GENERAL WARDS OF SRI RAMACHANDRA HOSPITALThe aim of the study was to assess the effect of humor therapy on quality of life among elderly in general wards of Sri Ramachandra Hospital. Aging is associated with higher prevalence of chronic degenerative diseases. Multiple diseases lead to multiple disabilities which in turn have a significant impact on their psychological and social state. Quality of life of the aged may be positive or negative based on their external and internal environments. Elderly patients are subjected to anxiety, depression, lack of coping and altered quality of life process. Quasi Experimental – pretest and posttest with control group design. The setting selected for the study was general wards of Sri Ramachandra Hospital, Chennai. The samples were selected by using convenience sampling technique. The sample size was 30 respectively for the study and control group who fulfilled the inclusion criteria.The humor therapy was effective in improving the quality of life of the elderly as in the posttest of the study group 28(93.3%) and 2(6.7%) had moderate and good quality of life. There is a significant difference in the overall quality of life at the level of p < .001. There is no statistical significance between the level of quality of life and selected demographic variables. Overall quality of life among elderly between the study group and the control group in the posttest is statistically significant at the level of p < .001. The independent t – value is 20.956. This study concludes that the practice of humour therapy enhances the quality of life among elderly people.neelakshig2011@gmail.comResearch542015Humour therapy,Quality of life, elderly peopleThelma Simon,G. Neelakshi,M.MalarvizhiStudent, (MSN), College of Nursing, Sri Ramachandra University, Porur, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India.,Professor (MSN), Ph.D., Faculty of Nursing, Sri Ramachandra University, Porur, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India, Lecturer (MSN), Faculty of Nursing, Sri Ramachandra University, Porur, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India.