The Effects of Comedy Movies on Preoperative Anxiety and Postoperative Pain in Patients Who Have Undergone Abdominal Surgery: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

This randomized controlled pilot study, which involved 176 patients, aimed to evaluate the impact of comedy films on preoperative anxiety levels and postoperative pain in patients undergoing abdominal surgery, as well as the feasibility of this intervention. While the patients in the control group did not undergo any intervention other than routine clinical interventions, the patients in the experimental group watched a comedy movie for 25 min. The pretest anxiety score of the experimental group was found to be 57.48 ± 6.09, while the posttest anxiety score of the same group decreased to 37.35 ± 8.10 after watching a comedy movie. The difference between their pretest and posttest anxiety mean scores was statistically significant (Cohen's d: 4.20, 95% CI: 27.8124 to 32.4603, p: 0.000). The mean pretest and posttest pain scores of those in the experimental group were 4.99 ± 1.24 and 4.76 ± 1.33, respectively (Cohen's d: 2.72, 95% CI: -24.6459 to -19.7858, p: 0.003). It was concluded that watching a comedy movie, which is an inexpensive and effective method, reduces preoperative anxiety and postoperative pain in patients undergoing abdominal surgery and provides important information necessary for the design of more precise studies in the future.