The effect of humour on nursing professionals' psychological well-being goes beyond the influence of empathy: a cross-sectional study.

Our results suggest that adaptive humour styles may promote positive indicators of well-being, but they might not protect against negative indicators. Moreover, differential effects of maladaptive humour styles emerged. Whereas aggressive humoristic expressions can be interpreted as a sign of a poor psychological functioning, self-defeating humour may boost positive psychological outcomes among nursing professionals. These data can help to design more efficient humour-based intervention programmes aimed at minimising potential negative consequences of nursing activity.