Theresa Garnero, APRN,BC-ADM, MSN, CDE, cartoonist, author

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Using Humor in Diabetes Education

• Theresa Garnero, APRN,BC-ADM, MSN, CDE,
  cartoonist, author
• Clinical Nurse Manager of Center for Diabetes
  Services at
• California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco,
  CA
• cartoons_at_tgarnero.com
• www.tgarnero.com
• 831-917-0749

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Program Goal
To inspire the integration of humor as a
technique to promote diabetes education efforts.
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Objectives

1. Describe at least 3 effective strategies on how
   to incorporate humor as a diabetes education
   tool.
2. Use a personalized approach when integrating
   humor in your practice.
3. Compare patient assessment findings that show
   readiness for and evaluation of therapeutic
   humor within the AADE 7 Self Care Behaviors.

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Overview

1. Background (history, theory, benefits)
2. Healthcare specifics (when, how)
3. Diabetes specifics (pt. populations)
4. Cartoons and case studies of patient-
   generated humor

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Humor and Diabetes
What is funny about diabetes? Research proves
What about humor and the self-care behaviors?
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Mulcahy K, Marynuik M, Peeples M, Peyrot M, Tomky
D, Weaver T, Yarborough. Technical review of the
diabetes self-management education core outcomes.
Diabetes Educator. 2003Vol29No5.
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KEYS to Self-Management



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Part 1 Humor Foundation
History, theory, and benefits, oh my!
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History of Humor
Greek philosophers Presidential in-house
humorists Norman Cousins More research on
humor in the past 25 years than all centuries
combined.
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Definitions

• Humor Normal Incongruity
• Humor makes you think differently
• Language vs. humor
• Humor is criticism, cloaked as
  entertainment
• Sense of humor a readiness to find
  something to laugh about.

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Laughter Theories
SURPRISE catches you off guard and causes you
to laugh. SUPERIORITY laughter is a socially
acceptable outlet for aggression. INCONGRUITY
triggers laughter by connecting 2 or 3 concepts
that seem absurd RELEASE/RELIEF laughter
relieves tension and anxiety (e.g. nervous
laughter). Freud said laughter is a physical
manifestation of repressed thoughts
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Humor-related Quotes

• You dont have to be funny to have a sense of
  humor. Jeanne Robertson
• We see what we seek. We choose what to focus
  on. Yakov Smirnoff
• A smile is the shortest distance between two
  people. Victor Borge
• Humor is about something normal that is violated
  in someway that we can tolerate.
• Bob Mankoff
• Humor is the good-natured side of truth.
  Mark Twain

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Common Humor Topics

• Sex makes up 50 of all jokes
• Ethnic humor is 2nd (family conflict is 3rd)
• More than 50 of all humor is based on a
  play-on-words (a twist on familiar cliches,
  metaphors, book/movie/song title, famous quotes,
  national ad slogans, or any expression known
  widely by the public)