Effectiveness of Music Therapy on Anxiety and Pain among Mothers During First Stage of Labour in Selected Hospitals at Kollam

Quasi experimental-pre test post test with control group design to evaluate the effectiveness of music therapy on anxiety and pain among mothers during first stage of labour in selected Hospitals at Kollam; the objectives of the study were to assess the anxiety and pain, to evaluate the effectiveness of music therapy on anxiety and pain, to find the association between anxiety and pain with selected demographic variables. Based on non-probability purposive sampling technique samples are selected with pre-determined criteria. Sample consist of 60 mothers in latent phase of first stage of labour, 30 each in experimental and control group. The tool used was Spielberger‘s State Trait Anxiety Inventory and Numerical Pain Intensity Scale. Music therapy was given to the experimental group for a period of one hour. The pre test and post test assessment of anxiety and pain was obtained in both the groups. Data analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings of the present study revealed that ‘t’ value computed between paired differences of mean anxiety scores among experimental and control group is statistically significant at 0.05 level of significance (t =5.771, p<0.001) and the ‘t’ value computed between paired differences of mean pain scores among experimental and control group is statistically significant at 0.05 level of significance (t=7.942, p<0.001). The findings of the study showed that there was significant association between anxiety and social support;no significant association between pain and demographic variables like age, education, area of residence, religion, type of family, parity, social support. Hence it can be concluded that music therapy is a cost effective and non-pharmacological method to help the mother to reduce anxiety and pain during the latent phase of first stage of labour.