4. Conclusions
depression, anxiety, pain
This is the first study to examine the perception of environmental music therapy and noise in a hospital SICU. It is a baseline study of EMT interventions using biopsychosocial constructs that were effective in showing constituents’ awareness of the SICU sound environment in general and specifically the influence of both noise and music on perception. The patients, caregivers, and staff were all attuned to music and noise present in the SICU/PICU soundscape. All three participant groups found music therapy in the hospital environment to be beneficial, and reflected that music had more of a positive impact on sleep and on pain perception compared with noise. The study may serve as an initial point providing a base for a further detailed study of EMT’s direct effects on a myriad of deleterious issues faced by both staff and visitors to the SICU/PICU. The data also reinforce the concept of noise as a noxious stimulus present in hospital environments. It found moderate positive responses in anxiety and depression through listening to patient preferred music. The study points to patients perceiving environmental music therapy to be a positive influence on their perception of sleep, and that both their caregivers and staff perceive it as a positive influence on patients’ sleep as well. As such, it provides a preliminary insight into EMT being a viable strategy to positively influence pain perception, and in as much, will provide a meaningful entry point for defining the most effective way patient preferred music used in EMT interventions can be implemented, though future studies are required with specific interventions designed to address anxiety and depression in the SICU/PICU. A limitation of the study was the difficulty in accruing the initial number of patients due to a greater number of patients not meeting the exclusion characteristics. Future research might follow to guide and support practices that are specific to environmental music therapy in intensive care units.