Effect of Music Therapy on the Anxiety Levels and Sleep Patterns of Abused Women in Shelters

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of a music therapy procedure (music listening paired with progressive muscle relaxation) on the reduction of anxiety and improvement of sleep patterns in abused women in shelters. Twenty-eight women residing in 2 domestic violence shelters in a Midwestern city met with the researcher on 5 consecutive days for half-hour sessions. A pretest-posttest design with control and experimental groups was used. The dependent variables included: stait anxiety measured by the STAI (Spielberger et al., 1983) before and after each music stimulus, sleep quality as measured by the PSQI (Buysse et al., 1989) on the first and last sessions, and levels of fatigue as measured by the Fatigue Scale (Lee, 1992) at waking time. The independent variable was a 20-minute recording of participant-selected music with a Progressive Muscle Relaxation script. Results indicated that music therapy constituted an effective method for reducing anxiety levels. Results also indicated a significant effect on sleep quality for the experimental group, but not for the control group. No significant relationships were found between anxiety levels and sleep quality, nor fatigue levels and sleep quality. These results seem promising in the light of domestic violence research, which has found that a greater amount of personal resources is a crucial aspect of abused women's recovery process. Reduction of anxiety and improvement of sleep quality can be considered as increased personal resources, and seem feasible through the use of music therapy.

The Effectiveness of Music on Quality of Life and Anxiety Symptoms in the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in Bustan Hospital of Ahvaz City

“…In view of the results (P  0.0001 and F = 13.67), presenting the music affected on reducing the anxiety symptoms among the PTSD veterans and they comply with the results obtained from the Davis researches, Jeffler and Tat (2009), Ben Giotin, Pertet and Pekut (2009), Esvansdoviter and Sindal (2006) and Hernandez (2005. Findings of these studies emphasize on reducing the anxiety symptoms as a result of presenting the music to the patients.…”

“…Swansdoyter and Senidal (2006) found that music therapy is a reliable and effective way to treat the restlessness and anxiety among the patients. Hernandez (2005), in a research, examined the effect of music therapy on the level of anxiety and sleep patterns among the women abused. On the basis of findings, music therapy reduces the anxiety and improves the sleep quality.…”

Randomized Controlled Trial on the Effects of a Combined Sleep Hygiene Education and Behavioral Approach Program on Sleep Quality in Workers with Insomnia

“…Post-study consultations with participants showed that many had adopted relaxation training into their everyday lives. Relaxation training can be conducted at any time, regardless of location [29][30][31][32] .…”

Effect of Brief Sleep Hygiene Education for Workers of an Information Technology Company

“…Relaxation therapies have been proven to be effective against patient-specific insomnia symptoms in a number of studies 36) . In particular, music therapy has been reported to reduce anxiety and improve quality of sleep in several studies 37,38) . Relaxation techniques may be self-implemented at one's convenience and can result in improved sleep 39) .…”