Citation

Hendra K, Sims C, Boshra S (2019) The Effect of Music Listening on Anxiety and Pain in Chronically and Terminally Ill Patients. J Geriatr Med Gerontol 5:073. doi.org/10.23937/2469-5858/1510073

Copyright

© 2019 Hendra K, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

RESEARCH ARTICLE | OPEN ACCESS DOI: 10.23937/2469-5858/1510073

The Effect of Music Listening on Anxiety and Pain in Chronically and Terminally Ill Patients

Kalen Hendra, MD1*, Catherine Sims, MD2 and Soheir Boshra, MD3

1Pediatrics Resident, UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland, USA

2Internal Medicine Resident, The Ohio State University, USA

3Medical Director of Women's Health Clinic, Family Medicine, VA Medical Center, USA; Department of Internal Medicine, Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, USA

Abstract

Numerous studies have shown that music therapy (MT) and music listening (ML) can improve patient symptoms such as anxiety, pain, and relaxation. To investigate the effect of multiple ML sessions and the association between patient expectations and outcomes, patients were recruited from two nursing and rehabilitation centers in Roanoke, Virginia. Patients received three 30-minute ML sessions (experimental) or no intervention (control). Patient data included the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS), vitals, and an expectations questionnaire. No difference was observed between the experimental and control groups when comparing symptoms and vitals. No correlation was observed between patient expectations and improvement in anxiety and pain (as measured by ESAS). However, patients who expected a clear improvement in anxiety demonstrated an improvement in systolic blood pressure and heart rate. Our results do not support the use of ML to improve anxiety and pain in chronically and terminally ill patients. Although no correlation was observed between patient expectations and symptom improvement, it may be helpful to utilize patient expectations when identifying those who may benefit from music interventions.