Recovery is no laughing matter – or is it?
Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to describe an exploratory pilot study to assess the methods used to evaluate an innovative programme of comedy workshops for a small cohort of people recovering from substance misuse problems. The comedy workshops involved participants working with a professi...
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| Format: | Article |
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Emerald
2016
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37825/ |
| _version_ | 1848795543078174720 |
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| author | Barker, Alex Byron Winship, Gary |
| author_facet | Barker, Alex Byron Winship, Gary |
| author_sort | Barker, Alex Byron |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to describe an exploratory pilot study to assess the methods used to evaluate an innovative programme of comedy workshops for a small cohort of people recovering from substance misuse problems. The comedy workshops involved participants working with a professional comedian-to explore, develop, write and finally perform a stand-up comedy routine drawing from their own personal experiences. Design/methodology/approach - The impact of the programme was gauged using questionnaires; the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the General Self-Efficacy, Scale and the Life Orientation Test-Revised and Eco-Mapping Tool.
Findings - Ten participants began the programme with four participants following through to public performance at an evening showcase event. The quantitative measures showed favourable results on three positive outcome measures; psychological well-being, self-esteem and self-efficacy. Participant's number of social relationships and strength of relationships decreased following the intervention, however, relationships were more mutual and were characterized by less conflict following the workshop.
Research limitations/implications - The small sample limits generalization of this study, but the methods for data collection were found to be feasible. Preliminary findings suggest that the workshops have a positive impact on recovery.
Originality/value - This paper describes an evaluation of an innovative programme of comedy workshops for people recovering from substance abuse problems. The preliminary findings point to a new hypothesis about recovery, that successful recovery might be characterized by a smaller social network, with stronger mutual bonds. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:33:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-37825 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:33:45Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | Emerald |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-378252020-05-04T20:04:57Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37825/ Recovery is no laughing matter – or is it? Barker, Alex Byron Winship, Gary Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to describe an exploratory pilot study to assess the methods used to evaluate an innovative programme of comedy workshops for a small cohort of people recovering from substance misuse problems. The comedy workshops involved participants working with a professional comedian-to explore, develop, write and finally perform a stand-up comedy routine drawing from their own personal experiences. Design/methodology/approach - The impact of the programme was gauged using questionnaires; the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the General Self-Efficacy, Scale and the Life Orientation Test-Revised and Eco-Mapping Tool. Findings - Ten participants began the programme with four participants following through to public performance at an evening showcase event. The quantitative measures showed favourable results on three positive outcome measures; psychological well-being, self-esteem and self-efficacy. Participant's number of social relationships and strength of relationships decreased following the intervention, however, relationships were more mutual and were characterized by less conflict following the workshop. Research limitations/implications - The small sample limits generalization of this study, but the methods for data collection were found to be feasible. Preliminary findings suggest that the workshops have a positive impact on recovery. Originality/value - This paper describes an evaluation of an innovative programme of comedy workshops for people recovering from substance abuse problems. The preliminary findings point to a new hypothesis about recovery, that successful recovery might be characterized by a smaller social network, with stronger mutual bonds. Emerald 2016 Article PeerReviewed Barker, Alex Byron and Winship, Gary (2016) Recovery is no laughing matter – or is it? Mental Health and Social Inclusion, 20 (3). pp. 167-173. ISSN 2042-8316 Social Identity Intervention Comedy Psychological Well-being Self-confidence http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/MHSI-02-2016-0006 doi:10.1108/MHSI-02-2016-0006 doi:10.1108/MHSI-02-2016-0006 |
| spellingShingle | Social Identity Intervention Comedy Psychological Well-being Self-confidence Barker, Alex Byron Winship, Gary Recovery is no laughing matter – or is it? |
| title | Recovery is no laughing matter – or is it? |
| title_full | Recovery is no laughing matter – or is it? |
| title_fullStr | Recovery is no laughing matter – or is it? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Recovery is no laughing matter – or is it? |
| title_short | Recovery is no laughing matter – or is it? |
| title_sort | recovery is no laughing matter – or is it? |
| topic | Social Identity Intervention Comedy Psychological Well-being Self-confidence |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37825/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37825/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37825/ |