The effect of listening to reproduced music on the assessment of fear in patients before heart surgery / Vliv poslechu reprodukované hudby na hodnocení strachu u nemocných před operací srdce

AIM: The aim of the intervention study was to determine the effect of listening to recorded music on the assessment of fear in patients before heart surgery. METHODS: The target population were men with planned heart surgery. An intervention study was conducted in (May–December) 2022 in the inpatient department of the cardiocenter. The set of patients was randomly divided into two groups. In the intervention group, in addition to the standard care before the operation, the intervention of listening to recorded music was implemented (30 min, 1 meeting, selection from 10 genres). The control group received standard care before surgery (education about the procedure, medication) with rest in bed or in a chair. Patients assessed preoperative fear with three QUESTIONNAIRES: Surgical Fear Questionnaire, SFQ; Amsterdam Preoperative Anxiety and Information Scale, APAIS, and Visual Analogue Scale for Anxiety, VAS‐A. Data were processed by the Mann–Whitney and Wilcoxon test with the statistical program TIBCO STATISTICA 13 at a significance level of 5%. RESULTS: Of the sixty respondents, 43 were men before the planned bypass operation. All respondents ranged according to the results of the questionnaire scores in the medium level of fear in both measurements. No statistical difference was found between the intervention and control groups in both measurements. Within the intervention group, statistically significant differences were found in the level of fear before and after the music intervention in two questionnaires (change in SFQ VALUE: 50.9±20.14 to 48.03±19.57, p = 0.004; change in VAS VALUE‐A: 72.13±27.44 to 71.60±27.57, p = 0.002). CONCLUSION: Listening to recorded music can reduce perceived preoperative fear in patients undergoing planned heart surgery under general anesthesia. Based on the results, it can be assumed that patients who experience fear before heart surgery may benefit from the intervention of listening to recorded music.