Cathy Waldrop

Abstract

Patients requiring medical care frequently experience increased levels of anxiety. This increase in anxiety may be attributed to fear of the medical examination, procedures to be performed, or the findings. Music therapy was tested as a possible intervention to reduce anxiety. The focus of this quasi-experimental study was to examine the influence of music therapy on adult patients in an outpatient clinic. The purpose of this study was to compare responses in adult patients who received music therapy while awaiting medical treatment in an outpatient setting and those who did not. Martha Rogers' Unitary Human Beings served as the theoretical framework. A sample was obtained from patients awaiting medical care in a rural family medical clinic. The sample group completed the Demographic Survey and the Waldrop Patient Surveys. ANOVA was used to compare the groups. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze data. Perceptual responses were scored using totaled percentiles per question. The researcher failed to reject the four hypotheses. The 111 hypotheses were there will be no: (a) change in physiologic responses, (b) perceptual responses, (c) correlation between age and physiologic responses, and (d) correlation between age and perceptual responses of patients who receive music therapy, white noise, or no music while awaiting medical care in an outpatient clinic.

Degree

Master of Science in Nursing (MSN)

Department

Graduate Nursing

Degree Date

8-1-1999

Publication Number

27924574

First Advisor

Linda Cox

Second Advisor

Lorraine Hamm

Document Type

Thesis

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