Ergin, E., Midilli, T.S., & Baysal, E. (2018). The effect of music on dyspnea severity, anxiety, and hemodynamic parameters in patients with dyspnea. Journal of Hospice and Palliative Nursing, 20, 81–87.
To examine the effects of music therapy in patients with dyspnea on the severity of dyspnea, state anxiety, and hemodynamic parameters such as heart rate, diastolic, systolic blood pressure, respiratory rate, and oxygen saturation.
Random assignment occurred by having patients who were hospitalized for dyspnea draw groups (A or B) from a bag for intervention or control groups. Intervention group patients were to rest supine in their hospital rooms for five minutes; patients were given earphones for music listening to 30 minutes of prepared music with instructions to listen with eyes closed and to concentrate on the music. Volume was adjusted by the researcher according to facial expressions of the participant.
Control group patients were to rest in bed for 30 minutes with eyes closed and headphones connected to a CD player but with no music playing, creating a quiet environment.
Testing via face-to-face interviews took place before and after the 30 minute period took place in both groups to measure dyspnea severity, respiratory rate, state anxiety, and hemodynamic parameters such as heart rate and diastolic and systolic blood pressure.
PHASE OF CARE: Seems not applicable in the current study
Randomized controlled study with pre-/post-test intervention and control group
Effect size: 0.519; significant at p = 0.05. The demographic and clinical characteristics of the intervention and control group were similar. There were no differences between groups before or after on hemodynamic measures. However, a simple paired t test of post-test scores revealed a significant between-groups difference in the decrease in diastolic blood pressure (p = 0.05) and state anxiety (p = 0.01) scores on post test, but no significant diff in systolic blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, or oxygen saturation.
Music therapy has no significant effect on severity of dyspnea or on hemodynamic measures named, but showed an effective or significant change in state anxiety (p = 0.01) and a significance for decrease in diastolic blood pressure (p = 0.05) only for post-test between-groups scores.
Increased awareness that music of a patient’s choice may decrease anxiety: data needs to be collected before and after to determine effectiveness of music categories or genres. Patient choice may vary (according to cultural and spiritual and regional circumstances).