Effects of Music Therapy on Subjective Stress Response, Salivary Cortisol, and Fatigue for Intensive Care Nurses

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to verify the effects of music therapy on subjective stress response, salivary cortisol and fatigue for nurses working in intensive care unit (ICU). METHODS: This study employed non-equivalent control group pretest–posttest design on quasi experimental basis. Subjects were 52 nurses (26 experimental and control group respectively) who have been working at ICU of Gil Hospital in Incheon, Korea. Data were collected from August 4 to October 6, 2014. Experimental group have listened to their 4-7 favorite musics individually once for 30 minutes after day-work. RESULTS: In experimental group, subjective stress response (t=5.02, P<0.001), salivary cortisol (t=2.08, P=0.042), and fatigue (t=5.66, P<0.001) have decreased significantly comparing to the control group. CONCLUSIONS: This study has confirmed especially through objective physiological index of salivary cortisol that listening the favorite music for nurses in ICU was an effective and objective managerial measure to resolve their job stress and fatigue.