Music Therapy and Procedural Support: Opportunities for Practice

Preterm (PT) infants are routinely screened for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). After ROP screening exams, PT infants are at risk for adverse events (AEs), including apnea and bradycardia (ABD), respiratory decompensation, infection, and gastrointestinal complications. Music therapy (MT) has been shown to improve overall physiologic stability in PT infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). In this case series, a board-certified music therapist used a music therapy protocol during 47 ROP screening exams. The study’s purpose was to explore the potential effects of NICU MT on AEs linked to ROP screening. No infant had any respiratory decompensation, new infection, or other complications. The rate of ABD after screening exams was low. MT during ROP screening appears safe and feasible. We hypothesize that MT might prevent ABD associated with ROP screening, a theory that could be effectively studied in a randomized controlled trial.

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

Silberstein,

Ligård,

Edlund

et al. 2024

Music & Science

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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.

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Music Therapy and Procedural Support: Opportunities for Practice

Cited by 3 publications

References 7 publications

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Retinopathy of Prematurity Screening Exams, Adverse Events, and Music Therapy: A Case Series

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

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