Humour is considered an omnipresent human activity. Universally, humour and laughter occur in all types of social behaviour, across cultures and within individuals (Martin 2007). Robinson (1995) explained humour within Nursing is a missing element because of the socialisation of nurses to exhibit a professional demeanour, which includes not laughing or using non-sanctioned health-based humour (such as gallows humour). Additionally, inappropriate use of humour could potentially be experienced by service users as abuse. Yet Robinson maintained humour is a form of communication which “facilitates all social relationships and manages all the delicate situations which can occur” (p. 15). This session will describe a study exploring pre-registration students’ experiences of the use of humour in clinical settings.
