110: THE EFFECTS OF MUSIC THERAPY IN THE PAIN MANAGEMENT OF PATIENTS WITH BREAST CANCER

Abstract

Background American Music Therapy Association (2010), determined music therapy to have shown significant effect on patient9s self-reports of pain reduction, relaxation, respiratory rate, behaviorally observed and self-reported anxiety levels. Objectives The study aims to help cancer patients to have simple and convenient non pharmacological pain management measure. Methods Utilizing quasi-experimental design, subjects were purposively and randomly selected from Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center- Cancer Institute (n=24). Subjects in the experimental group were subjected to music therapy for one hour, twice a week for 6 weeks (total of 12 sessions). Subjects were given the chance to choose their music type (classical or lullaby) which was delivered using iPod nano and Philips Ultra lightweight headset. Subjects in the non-equivalent comparison group were subjected to observation period for the same duration and frequency. The effects of music therapy in the following parameters: level of pain and vital signs (temperature, blood pressure, cardiac and respiratory rate) were evaluated pre and post treatment using the measuring devices- blood pressure apparatus, thermometer, numeric pain scale (Rich, 2010) and vital signs monitoring sheet. Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test, Paired Samples Student9s T-test, and Mann-Whitney U-test were used to test the differences across the parameters between the experimental and non- equivalent comparison groups. Result Subjects in the experimental group showed statistically significant decrease in their pain scale (p-value=0.00), cardiac rate (p-value=0.04), and respiratory rate (p-value=0.01) when compared from the non- equivalent comparison group. Conclusion Music therapy is effective in the pain management of patients with breast cancer.