Music therapy can bring comfort to hospice patients
A student from the University of Alabama is using music therapy to comfort dying patients in hospice. Sarah Pitts is a music therapy major who uses her voice and her guitar to play everything from Beatles songs to hymns like “Amazing Grace” upon the request of dying patients and their families. Music therapy can improve a patient’s quality of life in various ways, including pain management, helping a patient express their wishes to loved ones and helping repair relationships.
A study published in 2006 found that patients receiving palliative care experienced dramatic improvement in their mental and physical condition from music therapy. Testing showed that music therapy helped decrease pain, anxiety and shortness of breath in patients with illnesses ranging from pain disorders to AIDS to cancer. Over 80% of patients in the study said that music improved their mood and the mood of their family members.
Pitts stated that music can help hospice patients and their loved ones come together as a family, helping them to remember a wonderful time, and having one positive thing come out of the patient’s death.
For the full story, go to Business Week.
