"The Effect of Music on Anxiety" by Kaempf and Amodei (1989) presents a study of the effects of sedative music on patient anxiety in the operating room holding area.
The findings of the previous study were used to generate the purpose, research problem, and hypothesis for the current study. Previous studies demonstrated that music showed positive effects in patients. Studies included subjects awaiting procedures, subjects under anesthesia, and subjects in the perioperative period, pointing to the need for a study of those in the OR holding area.
The design does not appear to be an advancement over the previous designs used. Previous studies also used experimental designs with controls and multiple measures of anxiety.
Sampling strategies also do not appear to show an improvement over the previous study of the issue. Although there is a lack of information regarding previous strategies it appears that similar sampling procedures were used, which included an available sample. Thus the sample selection does not have the potential to add diversity to the previous samples. The only thing that differed was the stage of the operation procedures.
The current study does not build on previous measurement strategies to be more precise and more reflective of the variables, in fact measurement strategies are similar and include a psychological inventory of anxiety as well as physical measures (blood pressure, pulse, and respiration rates).
The statistical analysis was not compared with those used in previous studies. For this study the t-test was used to compare pre-music anxiety with post-music anxiety in the experimental group and controls.
Findings build on previous study findings, which also conclude that music has a soothing effect on patients. While it was found that both groups had less anxiety and systolic blood pressure readings following the 20-minute interval (during which music was played for the experimenta...