The effect of music on pain and anxiety in patients receiving chemotherapy during COVID-19

Abstract

Objective: This research has been conducted to determine the effect of music on pain and anxiety levels of patients receiving chemotherapy during COVID-19.

Methods: The research has been carried out in a real trial model with 92 adult patients (45 in the experimental group who received chemotherapy and 47 in the control group). The data have been collected by the researcher with Google Forms (using State and Trait Anxiety Inventory [STAI] and visual analogue scale [VAS]) through the links sent to the phones of participants on the day they received chemotherapy, between March 2020 and July 2020.

Results: The mean scores obtained from the post-test STAI (53.11 ± 4.77) and VAS (3.44 ± 2.53) in the experimental group have been determined to statistically significantly decrease when compared to the pre-test measurement data (STAI: 54.26 ± 4.26; VAS: 4.22 ± 2.41) (p < 0.05). No statistically significant difference has been determined between pre-test and post-test mean scores of the patients in the control group.

Conclusion: It has been observed that music applications reduce the pain and anxiety levels of patients receiving chemotherapy during the COVID-19 process. It can be recommended to use music applications in the management of pain and anxiety symptoms.

Keywords: COVID-19; anxiety; music; pain; patients receiving chemotherapy.