Date Approved

2000

Graduate Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Nursing (M.S.N.)

Degree Program

College of Nursing

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of music therapy on cosmetic/reconstructive surgery patients’ preoperative anxiety. In this descriptive study, 48 patients were assigned to either the experimental or control group Patients in the experimental group listened to patient-selected music for 30 minutes in the preoperative period. A comparison was made between the patients’ vital signs and self-reports of anxiety, which was measured using the state portion of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. This was a partial replication of a study by Kaempf and Amodei (1989).

Betty Neuman’s health care systems model (1980) served as the theoretical framework for this study. In this study, the intervention of music therapy to reduce anxiety associated with surgery illustrates the use of nursing theory in practice.

The analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) revealed no statistical difference in the levels of anxiety between the groups. The relationship between each variable measured showed only the respiratory rate nearing statistical difference between the groups.

The results of this study neither support nor refute the effectiveness of music as a therapeutic intervention. However, since the results cannot prove or disprove music therapy as a therapeutic intervention to reduce anxiety, further research is implicated.

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