Assessing HeartSong as a Neonatal Music Therapy Intervention: A Qualitative Study on Personal and Professional Caregivers' Perspectives.

BACKGROUND: The music therapy HeartSong intervention pairs newborn infant heartbeats with parents' Song of Kin. Formal evidence on professional and personal caregiver perspectives of this intervention is lacking. PURPOSE: This survey study evaluates the HeartSong music therapy intervention from parent and staff perspectives. METHODS: A qualitative study assessing inclusion of HeartSong for family neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) care surveyed 10 professional caregivers comprising medical and psychosocial NICU teams anonymously reflecting their impressions of the intervention. Digital survey of parents/guardians contacted through semistructured phone interviews relayed impressions of recordings: subsequent setup, Song of Kin selection, and use of HeartSong, including thoughts/feelings about it as an intervention. RESULTS: Professional and personal caregivers valued the HeartSong intervention for bereavement support, family support, including parental, extended family/infant support, and to enhance bonding. Emergent themes: memory-making, connectedness/closeness, support of parent role, processing mental health needs of stressful NICU days, and subsequent plans for lifelong HeartSong use. Therapeutic experience was named as a crucial intervention aspect and participants recommended the HeartSong as a viable, accessible NICU intervention. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE AND RESEARCH: HeartSong's use showed efficacy as a clinical NICU music therapy intervention for families of critically ill and extremely preterm infants, when provided by trained, specialized, board-certified music therapists. Future research focusing on HeartSong in other NICU populations might benefit infants with cardiac disease, parental stress, and anxiety attending to parent-infant bonding. Costs and time benefits related to investment are needed before implementation is considered.

The Effects of Clinical Music Therapy on Resiliency in Adults Undergoing Infusion: A Randomized, Controlled Trial.

CONTEXT: Eighty-seven patients newly diagnosed with lung, breast, or gastrointestinal cancer and undergoing chemotherapy in the infusion suite of a large urban hospital in New York City. OBJECTIVE: Patients were enrolled in this study of music therapy's impact on resilience in coping with the impact of symptoms inclusive of symptom clustering. METHODS: Patients were randomly assigned to three arms: clinical instrumental improvisation or clinical vocal improvisation 43 subjects to instrumental improvisation or vocal improvisation and 44 subjects to control. All subjects received a Medical Music Psychotherapy Assessment including psychosocial information and music preferences, pre-/post-Resilience Scale, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Visual Analogue Scale/Faces Scale, and a pain-Color Analysis Scale. Interventions included 20-minute music therapy (MT) and two additional sessions. RESULTS: Significant increases in Resilience Scale in MT groups after treatment with instrumental and vocal MT interventions equally potent-reflect average changes of 3.4 and 4.83 (P = 0.625), respectively. Although Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale scores showed little impact of MT on perceived anxiety/depression, a strong correlation is seen between vocal intervention and lower depression scores through Visual Analogue Scale-rendered postsessions. This yielded a significant decrease in pain levels immediately after MT, with the final session showing the most significant change in pain level. Resilience in enduring procedures is a necessary component of combating potential negative illness perception. CONCLUSION: Our study shows MT's facility to propel resilience in patients newly diagnosed with cancer, particularly when promoting and pairing adaptation toward coping through the expression of perceived negative effects of emotional and physiological symptoms.

The Impact of Music Therapy on Anxiety in Cancer Patients Undergoing Simulation for Radiation Therapy.

PURPOSE: Radiation therapy (RT) is associated with high stress levels. The role of music therapy (MT) for patients receiving RT is not well described. This study evaluates the impact of MT on anxiety and distress during simulation in patients with newly diagnosed head and neck or breast cancer. METHODS AND MATERIALS: This institutional review board-approved randomized trial of MT versus no MT at the time of simulation included the pre-State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-S Anxiety) questionnaire and Symptom Distress Thermometer (SDT). Patients randomized to MT received a consultation with a music therapist, during which music of the patients' choice to be played during simulation was selected. The no-MT patients did not receive the MT consultation, nor did they hear prerecorded music during simulation. Subsequent to the simulation, all patients repeated the STAI-S Anxiety questionnaire and the SDT. RESULTS: Of the 78 patients enrolled (39 in MT group and 39 in no-MT group), 38 had breast cancer and 40 had head and neck cancer. The male-female ratio was 27:51. The overall mean pre- and post-simulation STAI-S scores were 38.7 (range, 20-60) and 35.2 (range, 20-72), respectively. The overall mean pre- and post-simulation SDT scores were 3.2 (range, 0-10) and 2.5 (range, 0-10), respectively. The MT group had mean pre- and post-simulation STAI-S scores of 39.1 and 31.0, respectively (P<.0001), and the mean SDT scores before and after simulation were 3.2 and 1.7, respectively (P<.0001). The no-MT group's mean pre- and post-simulation STAI-S scores were 38.3 and 39.5, respectively (P=.46), and the mean SDT scores were 3 and 3.2, respectively (P=.51). CONCLUSIONS: MT significantly lowered patient anxiety and distress during the simulation procedure on the basis of the STAI-S questionnaire and SDT. Incorporating culturally centered individualized MT may be an effective intervention to reduce stressors. Continued research defining the role of MT intervention in improving the patient experience by reducing anxiety is warranted.

Music Therapy Increases Comfort and Reduces Pain in Patients Recovering From Spine Surgery.

The treatment of pain continues to gain in saliency as a component of defining best practice in medical care. Music therapy is an integrative treatment modality that impacts patient outcomes in the treatment of spinal pain. At Mount Sinai Beth Israel, we conducted a mixed-methods study addressing the effects of music therapy interventions on the recovery of patients after spine surgery. The study combined standard medical approaches and integrative music therapy. Sixty patients (35 female, 25 male) ranging in age from 40 to 55 years underwent anterior, posterior, or anterior-posterior spinal fusion and were randomly assigned to either music therapy plus standard care (medical and nursing care with scheduled pharmacologic pain intervention) or standard care only. Measurements for both groups were completed before and after the intervention. Music therapy involved the use of patient-preferred live music that supported tension release/relaxation through incentive-based clinical improvisation, singing, and/or rhythmic drumming or through active visualization supported by live music that encompasses tension resolution. The control and music groups showed significant differences in degree and direction of change in the visual analog scale (VAS) pain ratings from before to after intervention (P = .01). VAS pain levels increased slightly in the control group (to 5.87 from 5.20) but decreased by more than 1 point in the music group (to 5.09 from 6.20). The control and music therapy groups did not differ in the rate of change in scores on Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) Anxiety (P = .62), HADS Depression (P = .85), or Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia (P = .93). Both groups had slight increases in HADS Anxiety, comparable decreases in HADS Depression, and minimal changes in fear-related movement (Tampa scale).