The Effect of Complementary Music Therapy on the Patient\u27s Postoperative State Anxiety, Pain Control, and Environmental Noise Satisfaction

Postoperative pain is difficult to manage with analgesia alone. Complementary interventions such as music therapy provide a level of distraction, thus promoting comfort. A quasi-experimental non-equivalent control group design was used in this study. The control group received the standard of care. The intervention group received complementary music therapy in the form of pre-programmed MP3 players, in addition to the standard of care. Outcome measures were collected upon enrollment (Time One) and for the next 2 consecutive days (Time Two and Time Three). A significant difference was found from Time One to Time Two in pain management (t=3.938, p\u3c0.001) and environmental noise satisfaction (t=3.457, p=0.001), while there was no change in state anxiety (t=0.373, p=0.711). The intervention group experienced improved pain management (t=7.385, p\u3c0.011) and environmental noise satisfaction over time (t=4.371; p\u3c0.001); however, there was no improvement in state anxiety (t=1.47; p=0.159). The findings suggest music therapy decreases pain and environmental noise perception, although there was no effect on state anxiety