The effect of laughter yoga on premenstrual syndrome symptoms and quality of life in young women: A randomised controlled trial protocol

Aim: This protocol aims to present the design of a study seeking to determine the effect of laughter yoga applied to young women on premenstrual syndrome symptoms and quality of life. Material and Methods: This study was designed as a parallel-group randomized controlled trial with pre-test, mid-test, and post-test assessments. The sample consisted of 72 women aged 18–25 years (36 intervention, 36 control) randomly assigned to groups via power analysis. The intervention group participated in laughter yoga sessions twice weekly for four weeks, followed by four more weeks of daily self-laughter practice. The control group received no intervention during the study period but received one session after the study was completed. Measurements to assess the effectiveness and sustainability of the intervention were taken at baseline, week 4, and week 8. Results: The findings of this study are expected to demonstrate that laughter yoga, a drug-free, low-cost, risk-free method that is easily learned and applied by individuals, is an effective complementary and sustainable approach in reducing the severity of premenstrual syndrome symptoms and improving the quality of life of individuals. Conclusion: The reduction in symptoms may contribute to a decrease in healthcare utilization and workload, and a reduction in direct and indirect healthcare costs. Furthermore, the findings are expected to provide an evidence-based foundation for holistic nursing care practices and encourage the more widespread use of complementary and supportive methods in the management of premenstrual syndrome in both clinical and academic settings.