Family-centered Music Therapy as Procedural Support in the Pediatric Outpatient Unit: A Mixed Methods Pilot Study

Abstract

Needle procedures are one of the most common reasons for children to visit hospitals. If unaddressed, negative needle experiences can worsen over time and lead to needle noncompliance, needle fears, and healthcare avoidance. This mixed methods pilot study tested the effect of combined music therapy and standard pharmacological care compared to standard care alone on fear and discomfort in children in connection to a scheduled needle procedure. Children and their parents were also interviewed on their general experience of music therapy and how they regulated fear and discomfort during needle procedures while participating in music therapy. Thirty children aged 0 to 15 and their parents were recruited at the pediatric outpatient unit at The Central Hospital in Karlstad, Sweden. The participants were randomized to an intervention group with music therapy and to a control group that received standard care alone. The children rated their fear and discomfort before, during and after a needle procedure on a child-friendly visual analogue scale. The children and parents who were randomized to the music therapy condition were interviewed about their experiences of music therapy as procedural support. No significant differences between the intervention group and the group with standard care alone were found, indicating that the two groups were equivalent with regard to experienced fear and discomfort. The content analysis of the interviews indicated that the children and their parents considered that the music therapy intervention promoted the participants’ emotion regulation, promoted adaptive coping strategies for both children and the parents, and favorably but also ambivalently affected the context and interactions in the procedural room.