Music Therapy can be a beneficial option for women hospitalized during their pregnancy during the antepartum or postpartum stage. Pregnant women often experience stress and anxiety during their pregnancy and into postpartum as they learn to care for their newborns. Women with high-risk pregnancies requiring hospitalization and prescribed bed rest are especially vulnerable to antepartum related distress, including anxiety and decreased stress management capabilities. Stress and anxiety are known to have adverse side affects on the mother and her newborn, yet the mother’s psychological and emotional needs are often given a lower priority over her physical well-being. The perinatal period is an opportune time for intervention, due to the increased contact with healthcare providers and a tendency of mothers to seek healthy behaviors to promote the well-being of their babies. Despite this, the psychological and emotional state of pregnant and postpartum women is often over-looked. Music therapy is increasingly recognized as a beneficial intervention to reduce stress and anxiety among pregnant women, including those with hypertension and those on bed rest. I chose this araticle due to the fact that I work in a high volume (5000/year) birth center. I work with the antepartum population and there are many who are admitted long term, anywhere from a few days up to two months. All of these patients are diagnosed with a high-risk obstetrical complication. Many of these same patients have pre-existing diagnosis of depression and anxiety. I agree with this research study when it says pregnancy patient’s psychological needs take a backseat to her physical needs and alsos that while we have these mom’s in the hospital it is an opportune time to teach them some stress management skills. Music therapy is a relatively easy, non-invasive therapy, and it has been long known to help reduce stress. While not very many studies have been done with antepartum/postpartum patients and this study involved urban patients I feel that music therapy would benefit the population I work with, which is more surbaban. Amongst the 5000 deliveries we do have there is a mix of lower socio-economic patients as well as women of different countries/ cultures. Right now all I can recall, that we have that is patient-centered stress relieving, is patient massage. I would like teo explore music therapy on my unit/birth center to see if this would be feasible to add to our tookit.
Corey, K., Fallek, R., & Benattar, M. (2019). Bedside Music Therapy for Women during Anterpartum and Postpartum Hospitalization. MCN, The American Journal of Maternal/Child Nursing, 44(5), 277-283.
More awareness for a mother’s psychological well-being after pregnancy is needed. Having a newborn is joyful and stressful. In addition, a mother is physically still trying to recover from the birthing process. There is so much to learn about healthy habits for both the mother and baby that mothers can easily feel overwhelmed. Additionally, mothers do not get enough sleep, have numerous visitors, and realize that there is a change in lifestyle and relationships. Music therapy is definitely an intervention that can be used to decrease stress.
Bauer et al. (2010) examined the efficacy of a single session music or recreation therapy intervention to reduce antepartum-related distress among women with high-risk pregnancies experiencing extended antepartum hospitalizations. In a randomized, single-blinded study, participants received one hour of music or recreation therapy or were placed in an attention-control group (Bauer et al., 2010). Significant associations were found between the delivery of music and recreation therapy and the reduction of antepartum-related distress in women hospitalized with high-risk pregnancies (Bauer et al., 2010). These statistically significant reductions in distress persisted over a period of up to 48-72 hours (Bauer et al., 2010). The study found that single session music and recreation therapy interventions effectively alleviate antepartum-related distress among high-risk women experiencing antepartum hospitalization and should be considered as valuable additions to any comprehensive antepartum program (Bauer et al., 2010).
Music therapy would not seem difficult to implement. Issues to consider include: earbuds, headphones, or radio; CDs, tapes, or online collection; noise affecting other patients; endless music therapy or limited session times. Anything that completely blocks other sounds might not be feasible. Patients need to hear if a fire alarm goes off or if the baby is crying. However, if patients play music out loud, will that disturb other patients who may be resting? Or will that music genre offend other patients? Will certain music be excluded for its explicit language? It seems that before a music therapy program can be implemented, a solid policy needs to be in place.
Bauer, C. L., Victorson, D., Rosenbloom, S., Barocas, J., & Silver R. K. (2010). Alleviating distress during antepartum hospitalization: a randomized controlled trial of music and recreation therapy. Journal of Women’s Health, 19(3), 523-531. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20141383
I found this article to be very interesting, especially since I am currently 6 months pregnant with my second child. It is true that physical needs seem to take precedence over the psychological and emotional needs of the mother during pregnancy and postpartum. Where physical needs are most definitely important and necessary for a safe pregnancy, events such as anxiety, depression, or stress can also have physical and psychological effects on the mother and baby. An article I found said that studies have shown that mothers who are depressed, anxious, or stressed while pregnant increase the risk of their child having a wide range of adverse outcomes such as emotional problems, symptoms of ADD, and impaired cognitive development (Mastnak, 2016).
The article I found also discussed how music therapy not only benefits the mother, but also the baby. Music such as lullabies or instrumental sounds can remind the baby of the heartbeat sounds or voices that were heard in the womb, which can help comfort the baby and relieve stress from outside stimuli. This can lead to better sleep patterns and feeding with the baby as well (Mastnak, 2016).
Music therapy would be a simple and cost effective intervention to provide for patients once they are admitted to the hospital/birthing center to have for their delivery. Anything that can decrease stress and pain, and distract the patient from what is going on can be beneficial for mom and baby.
Source:
Mastnak W. (2016). Perinatal Music Therapy and Antenatal Music Classes: Principles, Mechanisms, and Benefits. The Journal of perinatal education, 25(3), 184–192. https://doi.org/10.1891/1058-1243.25.3.184
Hello Sadie,
Congratulations on your pregnancy. Hope all goes well for you in the third trimester and stress-free..-if such a thing can happen with school. You can try out the music therapy and see if that helps. My study didn’t really say how they applied the music really. I don’t know if the moms just lay back and listen to voice, guitar, drum or CD or for how long. I will how to research that a little deeper. I do think this option would be beneficial to my inpatient antepartum moms.
Thanks,
Gayle
So many interventions within the hospital rely on medical professionals to administer, but this healthy coping mechanism that, as you stated, “improved emotional, mental and physical state” can be easily used by a mother at home. It is a shame that studies focused on non-pharmaceutical /alternative methods of healing are less common. Knowing the results of sound research related to alternative therapies could be especially beneficial for patients who would like to take a more active role in their health. Brodin Danell (2019) found that “there are numerous studies confirming that women, middle-aged people, and those with higher education are the most frequent CAM users. . . .especially to deal with pain, nausea, and chronic illness” (p.339). So it makes sense for nurses to know the science and research behind alternative methods such as music therapy when working with female patients because this population of patients are frequent CAM users.
Reference
Brodin Danell, J. (December 2019). “I could feel it!” A qualitative study on how users of complementary medicine experience and form knowledge about treatments. Journal of Holistic Nursing, 37 (4), 338-353. Doi: 10.1177/0898010119837427
If I were to pick my least favorite topic, it would be pregnancy. Thank you for caring for those high-risk patients. I was intrigued by the topic of music interventions though. It has been shown that music can reduce anxiety. A review by Lin et al. (2019) explored the effects of music interventions on anxiety during labor. They found a statistically significant decrease in self-reported anxiety scores as well as a decrease in heart rate and blood pressure. It is important for nurses to know the science behind music therapy. The implementation appears simple but danavarro brings up some good things to consider. What a great topic for a journal club.
Lin, H. H., Chang, Y. C., Chou, H. H., Chang, C. P., Huang, M. Y., Liu, S. J., Tsai, C. H., Lei, W. T., & Yeh, T. L. (2019). Effect of music interventions on anxiety during labor: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. PeerJ, 7, e6945. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6945