Научно-исследовательская деятельность.

Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action, Volume 2, Issue 3, Fall 2008, pp. 265-269

Building International Partnerships Through an On-Line Humor Exchange

Kathleen J. Welch, PhD, MPH1, Tiffany Maiuri, MA2, and Anatoly Poleshchuk3

(1) University of New England College of Medicine; (2) University of Maine at Farmington; (3) Emva School #1, Emva, Russia Submitted 23 August 2007; revised 24 December 2007; accepted 25 January 2008.

Abstract        

The Maine/Komi Online Collaborative (MKOC) provides an online learning tool for high school students in Franklin County, Maine, and Komi, Russia. The tool, or “Humor Exchange,” teaches students to use positive humor to manage stress and provide social support. Rural, disadvantaged students also become more competitive to enter college due to the language and multicultural experiences. Students utilize Blackboard’s Discussion Forum and videoconferencing. Art and theater are integral components of this tool. The majority of students report that the tool is “fun” and that they have learned humorous ways to deal with stress, provide social support, and experience another culture. The videoconferencing has proven to be a unique and exciting way to communicate. This tool promotes social well-being among two countries that have been adversaries. It has mobilized social change by including the community, namely, rural high school students, where it is difficult to obtain multicultural experiences.

Keywords Online learning, Russia, stress, humor, social well-being

The University of Maine at Farmington (UMF) and Maine have a long history of helping communities worldwide. Citizens from Maine traveled to the Komi Republic, Russia, in the 1980s through Bridges for Peace, an organization encouraging friendships and alliances among citizens in the two countries. In 1991, these alliances included high school exchanges and health partnerships (See Figure 1). This citizen diplomacy eventually led to faculty/staff/student exchanges between two institutions of higher learning, UMF and the Komi State Pedagogical Institute (KSPI) in Syktyvkar, Russia, the largest city of the Komi Republic. In 2003, UMF and KSPI also established an Online Collaborative Project where classes use Blackboard to participate in course discussions. In 2006, this international connection expanded to include not only KSPI and UMF but a rural high school in Emva, Komi (Emva Lyceum Project). In 2007, a Maine high school joined the MKOC. The purpose of the MKOC tool is to teach rural high school students to manage stress, provide social support, and promote cultural understanding. Rural students also become more competitive to enter college. The Russian students become more proficient in English, which is a required subject at many universities, and both groups obtain multicultural experiences, valued in higher education.

Methods

What are the tool’s objectives?

First, students become aware of their stressors and how to use positive humor as a coping strategy. Second, students discover humor in everyday life. Third, students learn to share positive humor, which promotes social support and cultural understanding. Fourth, rural, disadvantaged students become more competitive to enter college.

Why is this tool needed?

The World Health Organization has declared stress a pandemic.1 Lazarus and Folkman’s model2 of stress is used for this study. According to this model, “perception of a stimulus as a stressor occurs when its initial appraisal renders harmful relevance to the person’s well-being.”2,3 Humor has been shown to provide physiological, social, and psychological benefits, such as reducing stress and improving interpersonal relations.4–6 The high school students have recognized that stress is pervasive in their lives and want to help each other. Stress is prevalent; the majority of Komi students have families who typically earn less than $200 a month.7 The high school students from Maine reside in an impoverished county where approximately 47% of the children live in low-income families.8 The Komi and Maine students also tend to lack multicultural opportunities, which can lead to obstacles in entering college. Finally, the tool helps to continue the important work begun by Bridges for Peace.

How was the tool developed?

In 2005, a UMF stress management professor became interested in the UMF/KSPI Online Collaborative since she conducted public health research in Russia. Her dissertation was also on humor as a treatment approach for HIV-positive patients. As a result, she began to design and pilot test an online tool that allowed her stress management students to exchange humor with a KSPI English-language class. In 2006, she and her students participated in the Emva Lyceum Project and they pilot tested the tool with the Emva high school English-language class. The Maine Community Foundation’s High Valley Fund provides financial and technical support for the MKOC. The fund is supported by founding members of Bridges for Peace. Two administrators for UMF Information Technology, who have participated in the UMF/KSPI Online Collaborative, visited the Emva high school in 2006 to wire the language classroom for Internet connectivity and install a portable multimedia station for videoconferencing. In the summer of 2006, the Emva high school English teacher visited UMF and received instruction in Blackboard to prepare him for online work. He worked on Blackboard with the UMF stress management professor, and together they refined the tool and defined the following parameters. The students use English. Students learn on the Web and in the classroom about stress as a determinant of disease and positive humor as a determinant of health. Positive humor is defined as a “positive state of mind . . . it is never hurtful, nor does it degrade a person’s spirit. It’s uplifting, and it gives people a temporary release of any negativity they may be harboring.”9,10 To be mindful of the other person, sarcasm is avoided. The first posting on Blackboard’s Discussion Forum is a “bio” with photo. Weekly, students post humorous anecdotes on how they deal with stressors. They continue to develop categories to organize their discussions: “Humor and Family,” “Humor and Sports,” “Humor and School,” and “Other Ways to Deal With Stress” because they have noted the importance of other coping strategies, such as pets and hobbies. Students not only post original entries but respond to each other’s entries. Friendships develop by sharing humorous resources, such as photos of pets and cartoons. Besides Blackboard, videoconferencing is used. During the first videoconference, the high schools performed humorous skits. The Russian skit included a magician who could only juggle invisible objects. The Maine skit included an improvisation based on a word contributed by the Russian students: “walk.” The Maine students walked a curious, hyper dog. Both groups used pantomime, which proved to be very effective because there are some language barriers. Art is an integral component of this tool. The stress management professor, who is now the MKOC grant administrator, is an artist who integrates the arts with public health initiatives. The English teacher at the Maine high school, Mt. Blue, is a comedian, and he and his students perform in an improvisational comedy troupe, “The Curtain Raisers.” The Emva teacher and students participate in after-school theatrical activities. Local artists have taught the students how to draw original cartoons, which are scanned and viewed on Blackboard. Many of these cartoons deal with every day stressors, such as preparing for exams.

How is the tool evaluated?

Process evaluation has been conducted since 2005. Every 4 months, participants answer anonymous, self-administered surveys that include a Likert acceptability scale and open ended questions. In-depth interviews are conducted every 6 months. Since 2007, impact evaluation has been conducted, and anonymous, self-administered surveys assess the following indicators on a yearly basis: overall stress levels; overall satisfaction with health/life; cultural understanding; and knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors regarding use of humor to manage stress and provide social support. One indicator for outcome evaluation is the percent of students who enter college. The MKOC grant administrator also makes on-site, yearly visits to both Komi and Franklin County to strengthen the partnership.

Results

Survey results show that the majority of students report that the tool is “fun” and have learned humorous ways to deal with stress and provide social support. They also report an increase in cultural understanding. A Maine student talked about having problems with a boyfriend and how the Russian student’s previous joke helped her to laugh during a difficult time. The Russian student then responded, “Don’t worry about your boyfriend. They always make problems out of nothing.” Teachers have benefited from using the tool. The English teacher from Emva reports that, “Not only my students but I have learned so much and it has made a great difference in my life. Thank you!” He also writes that his students are more eager to use the tool after the first videoconference with Mt. Blue High School: “They said the conversation was more cheerful than the one with UMF students because they were talking with teenagers who had the same interests and intentions.” He also reports that the students’ English proficiency is improving because they are “using the language for a purpose, to share their personal feelings, humor with peers from another country.” After the first videoconference between high schools, the Maine high school teacher exclaimed: “Today was indeed, awesome. The kids were pumped . . . and were bouncing off the walls telling people about it at the high school. I was talking to some of the teachers and they cut me off, ‘Oh, we’ve already heard ALL about it from so and so.’” The following survey responses from the high school participants indicate that the objectives are being met:

“It helped me to put a positive spin on some event that at the time I was very upset about.”

 “I was surprised that the Russian students often had the same type of humor, and I didn’t know I could be funny!”

“ It is nice to be able to share a written work with a friend and have them laugh at something you wrote.”

 “I have learned a lot about American humor, lifestyle and how Americans conduct themselves in stressful situations.”

In 2007, the on-site visit to Emva by the MKOC administrator helped achieve important results. She solved difficult technological problems, such as reestablishing Blackboard and Internet connectivity for the videoconference. She also met with members of the community to elicit their feedback regarding the tool. Stronger partnerships were established. For example, the Directors of the Regional Department of Education and the Komi Lyceum in Syktyvkar would like more rural students to have access to the tool. They offered ways for the tool to become more inclusive and sustainable through intensive English-language classes for more rural students at the Komi Lyceum in Syktyvkar and grant funding from Russian sources.

Discussion

 This tool is needed in two areas where stress is prevalent and students have fewer opportunities to enter the university. In the early 1990s, Bridges for Peace began high school exchanges and health partnerships, but these initiatives only continued for several years. Now, this tool has reinvented the partnership with the high schools while stimulating action to improve health. The tool promotes friendships because the teachers first discuss positive humor. This is important because some types of humor, such as sarcasm, can divide instead of unite. Students and teachers continue to correspond even when it is not a class assignment. They help each other to deal with stress and have begun to conduct research on types of humor used to cope with stress. This is a noteworthy topic because many Soviet gulags were located in Komi and Russians have used dark humor as a way to cope with political repression.11–13 Dark humor may be more prevalent among students in Komi. This collaborative approach to research and understanding the past could improve the social well-being of the Komi people. At the same time, the Americans could develop a greater appreciation for protecting civil liberties. The tool has mobilized social change. Students and teachers from both countries want to expand the tool to include more of their communities, such as more rural high school students and afterschool clubs. Many lessons have been learned. First, the tool needs to be more inclusive of the Maine and Komi communities. During the next year, more high school students and afterschool clubs in Maine and Komi will use the tool. This will contribute to their knowledge of stress management, languages, and cultures. More young artists will also be involved. Stronger collaboration between the local Departments of Education, Komi Lyceum in Syktyvkar, and Partnerships for Success at UMF will be established. The Komi Lyceum and Partnerships for Success share similar goals: to prepare rural, disadvantaged students to enter the university through on campus summer workshops, tutoring, and mentoring.

Conclusion

 This tool is an “icebreaker” between two countries with strained relations and it is evolving from sharing lessons, to sharing humor and health. According to the comedian, Victor Borge, “The shortest distance between two people is a smile”14 and for two countries with tense relations, it is this tool which includes many community partners: UMF, KSPI, Maine and Komi schools, Komi Lyceum, and local artists. The tool is returning full circle to the citizen diplomacy begun by Bridges for Peace in 1988; health partnerships are planned for the future, such as using humor and telemedicine to address health concerns at a Komi orphanage. The UMF Department of Community Health and other health professionals would be involved in this effort.

Acknowledgements

 The authors thank the Maine Community Foundation’s High Valley Fund and most of all, the students who have found that the shortest distance between two countries is a humor exchange. We would also like to thank the 2007 Community– Campus Partnerships for Health 10th Anniversary Conference: Mobilizing Partnerships for Social Change where results of this tool were presented and participants around the world expressed interest in promoting global health through such a tool.

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