Paper
Thursday, 20 July 2006
This presentation is part of : Measuring Evidence-Based Practice Outcomes
Effects of Music on State Anxiety and Physiologic Indices in Patients Undergoing Root Canal Treatment
Hui-Ling Lai, BSN, MPH, MSN, PhD, Nursing, Tzu Chi Hospital, Hualien, Taiwan, Taiwan
Learning Objective #1: Understand how music works in patients undergoing RCT.
Learning Objective #2: Understand how to choose music as nursing intervention in decreasing anxiety.
The purpose of this randomized investigator-blind controlled trial was to examine the effects of music on state anxiety and physiologic indices in patients undergoing root canal treatment (RCT). A psychophysiological theory provides the framework for examining these effects. Purposive sampling was used to recruit 44 adult subjects who were scheduled for RCT appointment. Subjects were randomly assigned to the treatment and the control group using randomization. There were 22 subjects in each group. Subjects in the music group listened to selected-sedative music by headphones throughout the procedure of RCT. Control group subjects worn headphones but without music. Using a repeated measures design with a pretest and five posttests, subjects’ heart rate, blood pressure, and finger temperature were measured with the BP monitor and the thermistor respectively before the study and every 10 minutes interval until the end of the RCT procedure. Anxiety was measured with the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory before the study, and at the end of the treatment procedure. The results revealed that there were no significant differences between the two groups on baseline data and procedure-related characteristics, except for gender.  However, subjects in the music group showed a significant increase in finger temperature and decrease in stress score across time, whereas the comparison group did not. The findings provide evidence for nurses and dentists to use soothing music as a research-based nursing intervention for anxiety reduction in patients undergoing RCT procedures.

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See more of The 17th International Nursing Research Congress Focusing on Evidence-Based Practice (19-22 July 2006)