Effect of Music on Anxiety of Women Awaiting Breast Biopsy

Abstract

The authors investigated the effect of music on the state anxiety of a sample of 20 patients awaiting breast biopsy at a suburban medical facility. The patients were assigned alternately to either the control or experimental group. The individuals in the experimental group were given a 20-minute music-based intervention in a preoperative holding area, whereas the patients in the control group received the customary preoperative care. Clinicians measured blood pressure, heart rate, and respiration in both groups of patients, and the participants completed the State portion of the self-administered State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). After the patients completed the 20 minutes of music or of preoperative care without music, clinicians again measured the participants' vital signs and the patients completed the STAI. The authors' findings indicated that the posttest state anxiety and respiratory rates of the patients in the experimental group were significantly lower than those of the patients in the control group.

Key Words:

• anxiety
• breast biopsy
• music
• parameters
• physiological reactions

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Stephen W. Looney

At the time this research was completed, Michael Haun was a family nurse practitioner with the Luther Correctional Facility, LaGrange, Kentucky; he is now affiliated with LaGrange Family Doctors. Rosalie O. Mainous is an associate professor in the School of Nursing, University of Louisville, Kentucky, where Stephen W. Looney is a professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine in the School of Medicine.