Abstract
The objective of the research was to explore the effect of humor as a coping strategy in cardiac patients. It was hypothesized that humor as a coping strategy would be positively related to reduction of the perceived stress associated to the cardiovascular problems; there would be a gender difference in the frequency of using humor as a stress coping strategy. A sample of 48 patients (24 males and 24 females) suffering from Cardiovascular disease were selected through purposive sampling from different hospitals of Karachi city (Pakistan). Their age ranged from 50 to 60 years. The Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein, 1983) and the Coping Humor Scale (Martin & Lefcourt, 1983) were administered on patients suffering from heart disease. The statistical analysis was done by computing the t-test and applying co-relations. The results showed that there was no relationship between humor and stress thus it has no impact on reducing stress at all. The results further indicate that there is no gender difference in using humor as a coping strategy for the management of perceived stress amongst the CVD patients.