Music Therapy and Dialysis: A Pilot Investigation Into the Effectiveness of Patient-Selected Music Interventions on Physiological, Psychological, and Quality-of-Life Outcomes

The objective of this study is to determine the effect of music therapy during dialysis on:

depression, anxiety, quality of life, blood pressure, heart rate, medication compliance, compliance with dialysis treatment, number of hospitalizations, pain level, and energy level.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Depression; Quality of Life; Pain; Generalized Anxiety Disorder; End Stage Renal Disease; Anxiety; Blood Pressure; Major Depressive Disorder; Compliance, Patient; Compliance, Medication; Mood; Heart Rate Fast; Energy Supply; Deficiency
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Music therapy

Detailed Description

This study will be a cluster-randomized clinical trial. In order to limit contamination bias, dialysis sessions at each site will be randomized to the experimental group or the wait-list control group. For example, patients receiving MWF first-session dialysis may be randomized to the experimental group while patients receiving TTS second-session dialysis may be randomized to the control group. Due to this randomization scheme, patients will be able to receive individualized music therapy while sitting in an open dialysis unit. The subject population includes English-speaking, adult (21+) hemodialysis patients who receive dialysis at the one of the two outpatient dialysis centers included in this study. Subjects will be excluded if they do not speak English or if they are deaf as these patient populations would not be likely to benefit from music therapy administered in English. Up to 100 patients will be enrolled in this study.

Patients receiving dialysis at DCI, Inc, who consent to participate and are randomized to the experimental group will receive 30-minute music therapy sessions over the course of several months. Music therapy will be administered by certified music therapists and music therapy students according to the Eyre (2008) decision tree model. According to this model, the patient chooses his or her preferred musical intervention at the beginning of each session. Choices include: sing songs, compose a song, listen to songs, play instruments, have an imagery experience, listen to music, improvise, and use music for relaxation. If the patient is unwilling or unable to make a decision, then the music therapist will choose an intervention based on the patient's perceived needs. For example, if the perceived need is expression of emotions, then the music therapist may suggest song composition, song choice, song singing, or improvisation. The music therapist will continue to assess the client's perceived needs based on their physical, verbal, and emotional responses to the chosen musical interventions, and the therapist will adjust their musical interventions accordingly (the complete Eyre Decision Tree Model is attached). The instruments utilized in music therapy will include a classic guitar, gato box (a small, drum-like instrument), and a 3-piece egg shaker set. All of these instruments can be played loudly enough to provide music therapy to the patient but softly enough as to not disturb the adjacent patients in the dialysis unit. In fact, these instruments are frequently used to provide music therapy to patients in open neonatal intensive care units.

The primary variables in this study include depression, anxiety, and quality of life. The median time to recovery for a major depressive episode is 20 weeks; therefore, patients randomized to the control group will receive music therapy for approximately 20 weeks. Depression will be measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), anxiety will be measured using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), and quality of life will be measured using the Kidney Disease and Quality of Life (KDQOL™-36) questionnaire. These tools are self-administered questionnaires that will be provided by the music therapists to both the experimental and control groups once a month during the study. Any patient with a PHQ-9 score greater than 10 (moderate depression) or a GAD-7 score greater than 10 (moderate anxiety) will additionally be given resources for available mental health providers in the area. While these tools are validated to be utilized every two weeks, they will be utilized every month during this study to limit testing fatigue. In addition, the PHQ-9, GAD-7, and KDQOL™-36 will be administered 30, 60, and 90 days after the experimental group receives their last music therapy session to both the experimental and control groups to assess for recurrent episodes. Among patients with major depressive disorder, recurrent episodes occur in approximately 50 percent. The risk of reoccurrence appears to be greatest in the first few months after cessation of depressive therapy.

The secondary variables in this study include blood pressure, heart rate, medication compliance, compliance with dialysis treatment, number of hospitalizations, pain level, and energy level. The music therapists will record the heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP) of each patient at the beginning of dialysis as well as at the beginning and end of music therapy (or a 30-minute period during which music therapy would have been administered). These HRs and BPs will be recorded using nursing vitals. Prior to the start of each session, the music therapist will provide self-administered questionnaires that ask patients to rate their pain (utilizing the Numeric Rating Scale [NRS-11]), mood, anxiety, and energy level. The patients will rate their pain, mood, anxiety, and energy level at the end of the session as well. The music therapist will record if the patient stayed for their entire treatment, or if they asked to stop dialysis early (the complete weekly and monthly data collection forms are attached). Music therapy sessions will be audio recorded using a condenser microphone and iPad Pro, and any subjective feedback from dialysis patients about music therapy sessions will be recorded as well.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 50
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Louisiana
    • New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, 70112
      • Tulane University School of Medicine
    • New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, 70112
      • DCI Canal Street
    • Terrytown, Louisiana, United States, 70056
      • DCI West Bank

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 17 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• English-speaking, adult (21+) hemodialysis patients who receive dialysis at the one of the two outpatient dialysis centers

Exclusion Criteria:

• do not speak English, deafness

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Experimental; Music therapy	Behavioral: Music therapy; Music therapy will be administered according to the Eyre (2008) decision tree model. According to this model, the patient chooses his or her preferred musical intervention at the beginning of each session. Choices include: sing songs, compose a song, listen to songs, play instruments, have an imagery experience, listen to music, improvise, and use music for relaxation.
No Intervention: Control; No music therapy

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Depression	Measured by Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9). The PHQ-9 measures depression symptoms. Scores range from 0 to 27. A score of 0 to 4 indicates no depression symptoms, 5 to 9 indicates mild symptoms, 10 to 14 indicates moderate symptoms, 15 to 19 indicates moderately severe symptoms, and 20 to 27 indicates severe symptoms.	Until 90 days post study
Anxiety	Measured by Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7 patient screening tool (GAD-7). The GAD-7 measures anxiety symptoms. Scores range from 0 to 21. A score of 5 or higher indicates mild anxiety, 10 or higher indicates moderate anxiety, and 15 or higher indicates severe anxiety.	Until 90 days post study
Measuring change in Quality of life using Kidney Disease and Quality of Life 36 patient screening tool (KDQOL36)	Measured by Kidney Disease and Quality of Life 36 patient screening tool. The KDQOL36 measures quality of life for kidney disease patients. Scores range from 36 to 172. Lower scores indicate greater quality of life. Appropriate scores vary by age.	Until 90 days post study
Compliance with dialysis	Self-reported	Up to 5 months
Number of hospitalizations	Self-reported	Up to 5 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Blood pressure		Up to 5 months
Heart rate		Up to 5 months
Medication compliance questionnaire.	A questionnaire about medication compliance will be administered to patients so that they can self report compliance with medications and compliance with dialysis.	Up to 5 months
Measure change in Pain using the Numeric Rating Scale 11 (NRS11)	Measured by the Numeric Rating Scale 11. This scale ranges from 0 to 11. A score of 0 indicates no pain while a score of 11 indicates severe pain.	Up to 5 months
Participant Energy	A questionnaire about energy will be administered to patients so that they can rate their energy on a scale from 0 to 5. A score of 0 indicates no energy while a score of 5 indicates a great amount of energy.	Up to 5 months
Mood	A questionnaire about mood will be administered to patients so that they can rate their mood on a scale from 0 to 5. A score of 0 indicates poor mood while a score of 5 indicates a great mood.	Up to 5 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Tulane University
• Collaborators: National Kidney Foundation
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Angelina Dixon, MD, Tulane University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 8, 2019
• Primary Completion (Actual): January 1, 2020
• Study Completion (Actual): January 1, 2020

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 16, 2019
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 22, 2019
• First Posted (Actual): April 24, 2019

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): January 15, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 13, 2021
• Last Verified: January 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: pain; quality of life; depression; dialysis; anxiety; music; major depressive disorder; music therapy; blood pressure; generalized anxiety disorder; heart rate; mood; energy; end stage kidney disease; medication compliance
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavioral Symptoms; Mental Disorders; Pathologic Processes; Heart Diseases; Cardiovascular Diseases; Mood Disorders; Kidney Diseases; Urologic Diseases; Renal Insufficiency; Arrhythmias, Cardiac; Cardiac Conduction System Disease; Renal Insufficiency, Chronic; Depression; Depressive Disorder; Disease; Anxiety Disorders; Kidney Failure, Chronic; Tachycardia; Depressive Disorder, Major
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2017-866

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: No

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No