Music Therapy with the Use of Gospel Songs in Reducing the Anxiety of Primigravid Mothers During the Third Trimester

Abstract

Introduction: Pregnancy can place a woman’s life into various instances that can induce anxiety. This anxiety can then cause serious complications that may occur throughout gestation. Hence, this study introduced music therapy as an intervention and evaluated its effectiveness in managing anxiety among third trimester primigravid mothers. Method: A pre-test post-test quasi-experimental design was employed among 50 primigravid mothers in their third trimester of pregnancy that were divided into control (25) and experimental (25) groups. The experimental group received health education and music therapy that was given thirty minutes a day thrice a week for two weeks while the control group only received routine health teaching. Post-test anxiety was collected after two weeks for both groups. The Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), a 21-item standardized questionnaire with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.736 was used to measure the variables in the study. Power analysis showed a power of 1.00 with a large effect size of 2.08 at a= 0.05. Independent t-test, paired t-test, and analysis of covariance were utilized as measures to determine the effectiveness of the therapy. Results & Discussion: The results showed a significant difference (p=0.0001) between the pre- and post-test scores of both groups. Furthermore, a significant difference (p=0.0001) was noted between the post-test anxiety scores of both groups. Music therapy especially containing gospel songs is an effective way in alleviating the anxiety experienced by primigravid women who are in their third trimester of pregnancy