Coping through humor predicts life satisfaction of teachers working in special education institutions: A quantitative and qualitative study

This study aims to examine the relationship between using humor as a coping skill by teachers working in special education institutions and their life satisfaction. In the quantitative stage of this study, which was designed according to the explanatory sequential design, the relationship between humor use and life satisfaction was examined using the structural equation model, while in the qualitative stage, how using humor affects life satisfaction was examined using the interpretive phenomenology design through teachers' experiences. In the first part of this study, teachers (n = 517) working in special education institutions in various provinces of Turkey were reached using the convenience sampling method. Coping through Humor Scale and Life Satisfaction Scale were used in this study. In the second stage, semi-structured interviews were conducted with the teachers (n = 20), who were determined by purposive and criterion sampling. As a result of the analysis performed, it was seen that the model examining the direct effect of coping with humor on life satisfaction had good compliance values. In the interview data, four main themes were obtained: The contribution of humor to life satisfaction, the reasons for using humor, the ways to use humor, and the positive effects of using humor. The qualitative research findings support the quantitative research findings and provide a detailed understanding. In addition to this, other findings revealed that coping with humor and life satisfaction scores did not show a significant difference according to gender, marital status, professional experience, and weekly working hours variables.