Table 3.

Studies assessing functions and results of humor application.

Authors (year of publication)	Target group (N)	Intervention/assessment	Main results
Delgado-Guay et al., 2016	Advanced cancer patients (100)	Assessment of end-of-life wishes	45% of the participants rated “to keep my sense of humor” as one of the ten most important end-of-life wishes.
Cain, 2012	Hospice professionals (41 + 7 informal interviews)	Participating observation, structured and informal interviews	Humor was found to inherit an important role predominantly in the back region of the hospice. Humor was found as an instrument of distancing, to enable professionals to deal with emotional difficult times, and being a resource of strength to continue their job.
Adamle and Ludwick, 2005	Patients in hospice care (160)	Observation of patient-nurse –primary caregiver interactions	Humor was observed during more than 80% of all observed visits. 70% of this humor was initiated by the patients, 17% by the nurses, and 12% by the caregivers. The average number of humorous remarks per visit was three.
Dean and Gregory, 2004	Patients, their families and health care professionals in palliative care (15 interviews)	Participating observation, semi-structured (health care professional) and informal interviews (patients and family)	Humor was found to be pervasive and persistent in palliative inpatient care. Three main functional categories of humor emerged from the data: building relationships, contending with circumstances, and expressing sensibility.
Langley-Evans and Payne, 1997	Patients in a day care palliative care ward (14)	Participant observation and informal interviews	Rather nonverbal humorous nature in this “death talk” enabled the patients to distance themselves from their deaths.