Measuring the Effects of Music-Listening On Distress After Intensive Care

The primary goal of this single-case experimental design study is to investigate the effectiveness of personalised music listening on daily levels of distress after discharge from a critical care ward. The study will also aim to understand the effect of personalised music listening on symptoms of post-traumatic stress, anxiety, depression and health-related quality of life post-discharge.

The main questions the study aims to answer are included below.

After discharge from critical care, does personalised music-listening:

• Reduce psychological distress?
• Reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression?
• Improve health-related quality of life (HRQoL)?

The study will have 3 phases, allowing for participant data gathered during the baseline phase (treatment as usual) to be compared to data gathered during intervention (music-listening) and follow-up phases.

Participants will:

• rate their distress on a visual analogue scale each day.
• listen to a minimum of 30 minutes of self-selected music each day during the intervention phase.
• complete measures of mood, anxiety, post-traumatic stress and health-related quality of life at baseline, intervention and follow-up phases.