Analysis of preferred music of mechanically ventilated intensive care unit patients enrolled in a randomized controlled trial

Objective: Music listening interventions are utilized in a wide variety of clinical settings to help patients manage stress, anxiety, pain, discomfort, as well as attendant influences on sedative exposure, delirium, and cognitive functioning. While the body of research regarding the use of music-based listening interventions continues to grow, there is a paucity of information in the literature about specific music used for listening interventions. The purpose of this secondary analysis is to examine the music that study participants identified as their preferred music and listened to during the study.

Design: This secondary analysis is based on data from a parent study, which was a three-arm randomized controlled trial attesting a patient-directed music (PDM) listening protocol to manage the psychophysiological symptom of anxiety.

Setting: Twelve intensive care units in a major metropolitan area in the United States.Subjects: Participants included the 126 mechanically ventilated patients enrolled and randomized to the PDM listening arm of the study.

Results: Data presented in this study include playlists from the 12 genres patients self-identified as preferred with specific groups and artists requested for music listening during the study. Discographies of the playlists are also included.

Conclusions: The efficacy of interventions is impacted by the design of the intervention and the selection of music utilized. Implications of this analysis further explore the role of a board-certified music therapist (MT-BC) in designing and implementing a music listening intervention. The specialized knowledge on the therapeutic use and benefits of music that an MT-BC possesses supports the development of quality study intervention and appropriate implementation. The review of the music utilized in the parent study provides detailed information about the music utilized to inform future research focused on music listening interventions to effectively build on previous studies.