Background Music Playback in the Preoperative Setting: Does It Reduce the Level of Preoperative Anxiety Among Candidates for Elective Surgery?

BACKGROUND: Contemporary medicine and nursing use music to stabilize mood, relieve tension and anxiety, and achieve higher treatment efficiency. Preoperative anxiety may be responsible for cognitive and behavioral changes affecting treatment efficiency.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effect of background music on preoperative anxiety in elective surgery patients and on noise levels in the surgery waiting room.

DESIGN: One hundred fifty-nine elective surgery patients were divided into an intervention group (n = 82) and a control group (n = 77). Data were collected and evaluated on the evening before surgery in the department, on entering the waiting room, and 30 minutes later in the preoperative setting. Data were gathered using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory scale and by measuring vital signs. Daily noise levels in the preoperative waiting room were recorded as well.

FINDINGS: Exposure to background music was associated with decreased levels of state anxiety irrespective of age, sex, and previous exposure to surgery or anesthesia (P < .001). Background music was also related to environmental noise reduction in the surgery waiting room (P < .0001).

CONCLUSIONS: Background music can be useful as a means of decreasing preoperative anxiety.