The purpose of this study was to determine if using a humor program affected hospital oncology and osteology patients' recuperation times or use of pain medications. A quasi-experimental, retrospective study was designed. Thirty pairs of patients were identified from existing records at a hospital that has a comprehensive humor program. One patient in each pair had used the humor program, the other had not. Chi-square analysis on the demographic variables of race, marital status, smoking status and sex showed no significant association between humor usage and all variables except sex. No correlation was found between patient age and humor program use. Independent t-tests (a = 0.05) were performed on the duration of stay for treatment and control populations, for the oncology and the osteology groups. No statistically significant differences were found in either population. Two independent t-tests (a = 0.05) were performed to analyze pain medication usage. The first examined the differences in the mean percent of p.r.n. pain medications used. Neither population showed statistically significant differences. The second t-tests examined coded scores for changes in pain medication orders. Again, no statistically significant differences were found in either population. / Department of Physiology and Health Science