All ETDs from UAB

Advisory Committee Chair

Lynda Harrison

Advisory Committee Members

Gwendolyn Boyd

Jacqueline Moss

Carol Prickett

Erica Pryor

Document Type

Dissertation

Date of Award

2008

Degree Name by School

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) School of Nursing

Abstract

The study purpose was to examine the effects of a perioperative music intervention on changes in mean arterial pressure (MAP), heart rate (HR), anxiety, and pain in women with a diagnosis of breast cancer undergoing mastectomy surgery. The convenience sample included 30 women between the ages of 42 and 70 who were undergoing mastectomy in a large urban hospital in the southern United States. Exclusion criteria included male gender, psychiatric disorder, use of psychotropic medications, cognitive mental disability, and American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) status 4 or greater. In a quasiexperimental, repeated measures design, participants were randomized equally into music intervention and control groups. Women in the intervention group listened to music throughout the perioperative period, and women in the control group did not listen to music. Study variables were measured preoperatively (T1) and postoperatively (T2) at the time of discharge from the recovery room. Independent t-tests were used for statistical analyses of change scores. Results indicated significant effects in favor of women in the music group for the variables of MAP, anxiety, and pain. Women in the music group had a decreased MAP from T1 to T2, whereas women in the control group had an increase in MAP (p=.003). Women in the music group had a decrease in level of anxiety from T1 iii to T2, whereas anxiety levels increased from T1 to T2 for women in the control group (p=.000). Women in the intervention and control groups had increased levels of pain from T1 to T2, but this increase was significantly lower for women in the intervention group (p=.007). There were no significant group differences for heart rate change scores. The findings supported the conceptual model for the study which hypothesized that a perioperative music intervention can decrease anxiety, pain, and mean arterial pressure by reducing the stress response in women undergoing mastectomy through audioanalgesia, entrainment, and the relaxation response. The findings suggest that a perioperative music intervention can improve immediate postoperative outcomes for women undergoing a mastectomy for breast cancer. Further research is needed to determine whether the results can be generalized to other patient populations.

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