Child Life Specialists: Clinical Research

Prior to the 1980s, children were prepared for surgeries and other medical procedures by their doctors and nurses. Beginning in the early 1990s, Child Life Specialty took over the role of preparing children and families for procedures. Child life specialists work in medical settings serving as emotional support and helping to develop family coping strategies (Nabors, Bartz, Kichler, Sievers, Elkins, & Pangallo 2013). Most child life programs exist in hospitals, however, there are many other environments where specialists work, ranging from dentist offices, schools, and even funeral homes (Fitzpatrick 2016). Their job varies among different settings but typically they are there to prepare children for procedures and explain the overall medical

Music Therapy is used for many reasons and can be helpful in many ways. Music has been proven to be a therapeutic service to people because it’s helped people to contain themselves and even express themselves through the music that they listen to. This treatment is beneficial to many humans because it’s a good way to help one’s emotions without any medication (American Music Therapy Association). For example, music is used to treat pain and reduce stress. In Amy Novotney’s article about music therapy, she says, “The beep of ventilators and infusion pumps, the hiss of oxygen, the whir of carts and the murmur of voices as physicians and nurses make rounds — these are the typical noises a premature infant hears spending the first days of life in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). While the sounds of such life-saving equipment are tough to mute, a new study suggests that some sounds, such as lullabies, may soothe pre-term babies and their parents, and even improve the infants' sleeping and eating patterns, while decreasing parents' stress (Pediatrics, 2013)” (Novotney). Another example of how music is a reliable therapeutic resource is for people with autism. In Catherine Ulbricht’s article, she states that “People who have autism spectrum disorders often show a heightened interest and response to music. This may

There have been many studies on music, palliative care, and the effect that music could have on improving patient outcomes associated with pain. The studies that were examined all had a common theme - that music interventions were effective in decreasing pain level to some extent. While

For this example, we develop the question: In a pre-procedure setting, does listening to music help reduce the level of anxiety for adult patients undergoing a stressful procedure? The question falls into the clinical therapy category because it seeks to answer the question about the effectiveness of music. To find best practice, we search literature databases for recent experimental or quasi-experimental studies that are appropriate to the question (LoBiondo-Wood & Haber, 2014-a). The following articles show examples of research that examine the relationship between music and anxiety. Kim, Evangelista, and Park (2015) conducted an integrative review and meta-analysis that finds music intervention has a positive effect on reducing anxiety for patients on hemodialysis. Mohammadi, Mirhagher, Torabi, Mirsane, and Moradi (2014) conducted and randomized quasi-experimental study that shows a significant decrease in physiological parameters and anxiety levels in the trial group when compared to the control group. Thompson, Moe, and Lewis (2014) conducted a quasi-experimental study that finds a significant decrease in anxiety for patients who listen to music before surgery. It shows that the higher the level of anxiety, the greater the benefit from the

The therapeutic and healing properties of music have been recognized throughout history. Rothrock (2011) stated that music is recognized as a way to decrease the physiologic and behavioral anxiety found in most surgical patients. Anxiety is a powerful emotion that can trigger physiological responses, cause stress, increase pain sensation and delay wound healing (Upton, 2014). Surgeons often prescribe medication to relieve anxiety preoperatively without consideration of an alternative intervention. Complementary interventions such as music therapy can provide a level of distraction, thus promoting a reduction in anxiety level (Comeaux, & Steele-Moses, 2013).

The effect of music on postoperative pain and anxiety was studied on an orthopedic unit in a central Florida hospital (Allred, Byers, & Sole, 2010). The authors clearly identified the problem many total knee arthroplasty patients experience after surgery is moderate to severe postoperative pain and increased anxiety. Throughout the introduction of the study, it was stressed the importance and need for this research to be conducted. The authors discussed the effects of inadequately treated pain and how health care professionals, including nursing, should make it a priority in a patient’s treatment plan (Allred et al., 2010). Several references were provided supporting the issue

Everyone knows that lullabies help babies sleep. But as a new study reveals they can also ease pain, Ivan Hewett explores why music has such a powerful effect on infants It turns out that lullabies ease pain and anxiety in children. This story is quite new – and as often happens, you wonder why anyone would think it was news. Isn’t that why lullabies emerged in the first place, to stop children being afraid of the dark, still their fidgety bodies and minds, and lull them off to

Critique of the Effect of Complementary Music Therapy on the Patient’s Postoperative State Anxiety, Pain Control, and Environmental Noise Satisfaction Although I did not necessarily choose to critique this research article, I found it very interesting and applicable to my experience as a nursing student and informative to be able to use in my future clinical practices. I also have an interest in music, so I thought this article particular would be interesting to read and critique. Pain is a common feeling in human beings and anyway to lessen the experience I believe is worthy of investigative research. Research Problem The problem statement is clear and persuasive supported by findings on the subject stating that “unrelieved postoperative

The author wrote this journal article to express what a Child Life Specialist is and how they can make the hospital experience less scary for the children. Hospitals are scary for a child because of the noises, machines, and will feel pain that they would not be feeling at home. I am thankful for authors like this one who will write about my future career because most people have never heard of it before. The way that Child Life Specialists can make the hospital environment friendlier is by letting the kids participate in play. There are three types of play including: Normative, Medical and Therapeutic.

In today’s day and age, people cannot go anywhere or do anything without listening to music. From elevator music, to exercise in the gym, to background music in restaurants, to the radio in the car, we cannot escape music. It is such an overlooked yet essential part of our daily lives, but what is unknown by many is that music is also used very deliberately in the lives of others. Many hospitals use music therapy to help treat their stroke patients, premature infants, those diagnosed with Alzheimer 's disease, etc. One might wonder why physicians do this, but the more prevalent questions is whether music therapy is effective or not.

In an article by Vaajoki, Pietila, Kankkunen and Vehvilaimen-Julkunen (2010) the objective is to evaluate the effect of music therapy on pain distress and intensity after abdominal surgery. Vaajoki et al, begin by noting the positive effects of adjuvant music therapy for pain relief in surgery patients though limited research has been conducted specific to abdominal surgeries. They hypothesized patients receiving standard of care and music therapy report less pain intensity and distress than those who do not. The investigators used a prospective clinical study design, participants were randomized into the intervention (n = 83) and control groups (n = 85). The experimental group listened to 30 minutes of patient-selected music in addition to standard of care on day 1 and day 2 postoperatively. The control

The use of music as a non pharmacological measure can be an essential element in dealing with pain since it is easy and safe to

Many nurses or other healthcare providers may be hesitant in utilizing music therapy for their patients but there are several documented studies providing the positive results of music therapy. One example provided by The Journal of Perianesthesia Nursing, demonstrated in a study using 60 pediatric patients ranging from one month through five years in comparing the effect of music therapy to that of chloral hydrate requiring EEG testing. The study highlighted the percentage of children who were able to complete the EEG was 50% using chloral hydrate and 97.1% using Music Therapy. This was the first study of its kind in quantifying and comparing the effects of music therapy. (Loewy, Hallan, Friedman, & Martinez, 2005, pp. 325-331)

Pain, increased weakness, decreased intake of food and fluid, altered breathing patterns are some physical symptoms often experienced by the terminally ill (Kouch, 2006 as cited in Leow, Drury & Poon, 2010). Treating pain in the terminally ill is very important and challenging for nurses. Therefore, it is important to use both pharmacologic and nonpharmacological methods to reduce pain. The ability of nurses to use music therapy as a nonpharmacological method to manage pain in the terminally ill is a phenomenon of great importance to nursing. Terminally ill in this literature refers to patients with cancer that have six months or less to live and patients that are hospice or are undergoing palliative care. This literature revealed that using a multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA), significantly less posttest pain was reported in the music versus the control group. Cancer patients that listened to soft music in addition to using analgesics experienced increased compared to those using analgesics alone (Huang, Good, & Zauszniewski, 2010). Furthermore, statistical difference was noticed between the groups for mood level and oxygen saturation during live saxophone performance (Burrai, Micheluzzi, & Bugani, 2014). In addition, this research indicated that music may have a more positive effect on females and elderly than younger and more educated males (Chan, Chung, Chung, & Lee, 2008). The

Usually, when one considers what they can do to fight off a cold, relieve pain, or alleviate mental illness, the first things that comes to mind may be to take over-the-counter drugs or prescribed medications. However, the cure to these and many other infirmities may be found within your own ipod. Music, in its many forms, can and should be used as a healing instrument. While it may not completely alleviate the need for drugs, it's possible that music therapy could accompany medical drug use in order to lessen the amount of potentially harmful medications often consumed by patients.