A Systematic Review on the Effect of Music Therapy on Post-Operative Pain in Adult Patients

Abstract

The purpose of this systematic review is to identify the effect of music therapy on postoperative pain in adults through findings of critically appraised, selected literature. A systematic search of Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), PubMed, and University of Liverpool John mores DISCOVER, Medline and Google Scholar was conducted using the key terms such as Effect, Effectiveness, Impact, Music therapy, Therapeutic Music, Post-Operative Pain , Post-Surgical Pain. Total number of 1177 records were identified through data base searching and forty three were selected following screening, Only twelve were eligible meeting inclusion criteria and total seven articles were finally selected after the critical appraising for methodological quality with using two tools. The findings of this systematic review indicated that music therapy was effective to reduce postoperative pain and analgesic consumptions in adults with significant positive effects to reduce post-operative analgesic consumptions, and postoperative blood pressure. Findings elaborated lead to emerge two main key themes: Music therapy is an effective intervention to reduce Post-Operative Pain reduction in adults, and music is an effective complementary therapy. All studies included in this systematic review highlighted that generally music therapy is not a standard procedure for reducing post-operative pain but as a complementary therapy that can be combined with standard pharmacological intervention.