‘You’re supporting us, not just the patients’: The Effects of Environmental Music Therapy on Nursing staff in an Adult Hospice
Introduction
Environmental Music Therapy (EMT), the playing of live music attuned to the environment providing comfort and relief to patients and their families and aesthetic enrichment (Rossetti et al., 2023) is regularly provided on an inpatient hospice unit.
This qualitative study was designed to explore the effects of EMT on nursing staff and whether this impacts patient care. Whilst much music therapy research in palliative and hospice care focusses on patients and family members, there is little which explores its impact on formal care staff.
Method
Nursing staff were invited to complete a short anonymous ‘Music Preferences Form’ from which playlists were compiled, followed by a ‘Music Listening Questionnaire’. Live music was played at different times over eight weeks. Five staff were interviewed to provide more in-depth reflections. All responses were transcribed and analysed thematically.
Results
Several themes were identified which demonstrated that hearing live music had an overwhelmingly positive effect on staff members’ mood and attention, and on their interactions with each other. This effect frequently carried over to patient care enhancing relationships and facilitating conversations. The full thematic analysis will be presented in this paper.
Discussion
This study demonstrated that EMT has an important role in supporting nursing staff in providing care for patients and for themselves. It has further implications for multi-disciplinary working including increased collaboration between the music therapist and nursing staff. Staff demonstrated a greater understanding of music therapy having experienced the effects on themselves, leading to more frequent referrals and to the nurses’ own use of music with patients.