Music Intervention and its Effect on State Anxiety: An Integrative Literature Review

Approximately 5 million patients are admitted to Intensive Care Units (ICU) in the United States for acute or life-threatening medical problems or injuries annually. The ICU patient experience has been described in the literature as dehumanizing, stressful, and anxiety provoking. Given the adverse physiological and psychological effects of sustained state anxiety, it is important anxiety is effectively managed in the ICU environment. Standard care for management of anxiety often relies heavily upon sedative medications and are correlated with poor outcomes when used in high doses and over a long duration. The SCCM recommends nonpharmacologic adjunctive measures to decrease the occurrence of post intensive care unit syndrome (PICS). The purpose of this integrative literature review was to identify evidence whether the use of an adjuvant therapy, music intervention, can reduce state anxiety for ICU patients. A review of the literature spanning the years 2011-2021 was performed based on the concept of music intervention implemented in the critically ill adult population and its effect on state anxiety. Several systematic reviews and many randomized control trials were identified for this inquiry; Evidence found was not homogenous in intervention and application and various factors were identified by researchers. Despite this, state anxiety, as measured by various scoring tools across the literature, was reduced after music interventions regardless of the implementation process. Irrespective of study design, no adverse effects were noted with music intervention