Mindful Melody: Feasibility of Implementing Music Listening on an Inpatient Psychiatric Unit and Its Relation to the Use of As Needed Medications for Acute Agitation

In this quality improvement project, our objectives were to assess the feasibility and effectiveness of using music as an adjunct to or replacement of pharmacological interventions for patient agitation on an inpatient psychiatric unit. We hypothesized that music availability would help to reduce agitation and reduce the amount of as-needed medications used for cases of patient agitation.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Agitated; State, Acute Reaction to Stress; Agitation,Psychomotor
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Music

Detailed Description

The number of as-needed medications for agitation was quantified during a three month period during which patients had the option of listening to music in cases of agitation. This was compared to the number of medications needed for agitation during another 3 month period during which music was not available. The medications used were quantified using pharmacy records. Patients and nurses were surveyed to determine how effective and feasible they thought the music intervention was. The study was conducted at the SUNY Upstate University Hospital inpatient psychiatric unit, which is a 24-bed unit. 172 patients were included in the project.

Before starting to offer music, a basic training meeting was held with nursing staff to understand the purpose of the project. Patients participating had the option of selecting a preferred musical genre and they listened to music using wireless headphones. The playlists used were genre playlists automatically generated by Spotify music application. If patients did not like the song that was generated, they had an option to skip the song using their bluetooth headphone controls. Headphones were collected after 30 minutes of listening unless they were return prior to completion of the listening session.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 172

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • New York
    • Syracuse, New York, United States, 13210
      • Upstate University Hospital

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

inpatients on an acute psychiatric unit

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Any patient 18 years or older admitted to the inpatient psychiatric unit

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients who did not want to listen to music or be included in the project were excluded

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

2

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort	Intervention / Treatment
When music was available; 3 month period during which music was available to patients experiencing agitation	Other: Music; If patients experienced agitation, they were able to request to listen to music for 30 minutes. They listened to genre playlists generated by the music application Spotify.
When music was not available; 3 month period during which music was not available to patients

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
The number of medications used for agitation	The number of different types of medications used for agitation was quantified using pharmacy records	5/18/2018 until 11/13/2018

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Scales administered to nursing staff	Scales administered to nursing to determine ease of implementation and effect on the psychiatric unit milieu	5/18/2018 until 11/13/2018
Scales administered to patients	Scales administered to patients to assess the extent of the calming effect of listening to music	5/18/2018 until 11/13/2018

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: State University of New York - Upstate Medical University

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Scudamore T, Liem A, Wiener M, Ekure NS, Botash C, Empey D, Leontieva L. Mindful Melody: feasibility of implementing music listening on an inpatient psychiatric unit and its relation to the use of as needed medications for acute agitation. BMC Psychiatry. 2021 Mar 6;21(1):132. doi: 10.1186/s12888-021-03127-z.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (ACTUAL): August 16, 2018
• Primary Completion (ACTUAL): November 16, 2018
• Study Completion (ACTUAL): November 16, 2018

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: August 12, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 12, 2020
• First Posted (ACTUAL): August 17, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (ACTUAL): August 17, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 12, 2020
• Last Verified: August 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Agitation; Music; Inpatient
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Nervous System Diseases; Neurologic Manifestations; Neurobehavioral Manifestations; Dyskinesias; Psychomotor Disorders; Trauma and Stressor Related Disorders; Stress Disorders, Traumatic; Psychomotor Agitation; Stress Disorders, Traumatic, Acute
• Other Study ID Numbers: 1434789-1

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

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