CONTEXT

One of the important functions of nurses is to prepare a relaxing environment for patients, for whom they look after and fulfill sleep needs. Today, music therapy, one of nonpharmacological treatment approaches, can be used for enhancing the sleep quality of individuals. The increase of individuals' sleep quality by using music therapy will enable nurses to intervene in problems associated with sleep disorders and prevent insomnia and other relevant problems.

OBJECTIVE

This study was conducted to determine the effect of music therapy on sleep quality of the students.

DESIGN

The research was an experimental pretest-posttest control group design.

SETTING

The research was conducted among the students studying in the nursing department at a university in the east of Turkey in the spring term of the academic year of 2015-2016.

PARTICIPANT

Students who (1) got a total score of 5 and higher according to the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), (2) had no neurological/psychiatric disorder, (3) had no hearing problem, (4) received no medical treatment regarding sleep, and (5) volunteered to participate in the study were included in the study. The students who were included in the study were divided into experimental and control groups.

INVENTION

Students in the experimental group were instructed to keep the volume of the personal MP3 player to be used for listening to the music therapy below 70% and to use it for 1 h/d at most. No intervention was applied to students in the control group. They were asked to sustain their normal sleeping habits.

OUTCOME MEASURE

To collect the data, a questionnaire prepared by the researchers for determining sociodemographic characteristics of the students and PSQI were used.

RESULTS

As a result of the study, it was found that the posttest PSQI mean scores of students in the experimental group, listening to music therapy, were lower than the mean scores of the students in the control group, and the difference between the groups was statistically significant.

CONCLUSIONS

As a result of this study, it was determined that music therapy increased the sleep quality of students. Being one of the nonpharmacological treatment approaches intended for solving sleep problems, music therapy is a pain-free, safe, and affordable treatment method without any side effect that could be used in every area of health.