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ABSTRACT
The purposes of this study were to determine factors affecting the use of music by
women during childbirth and to compare the frequency of actual music use during
childbirth by women who heard music during prenatal labor rehearsal vs those who
did not hear music in rehearsal. Fifty-four women attending Lamaze childbirth classes
were randomly assigned to music-rehearsal or nonmusic-rehearsal groups. After de-
livery, all subjects completed questionnaires about music use and subjective responses
to music. Eleven factors involved in determination of actual music use were identified.
No significant differences in music use by rehearsal group assignment were found.
Results demonstrate that music provides an adjunct to childbirth that is .highly de-
sirable for some women, while unappealing or inconvenient for others. Suggestions
for utilization of findings by maternity care providers are presented.
Music is one of the elements included ing childbearing and to determine and the dental office.6 The purported
in Harriet Palmer's description of an whether labor rehearsal with musical mechanism for enhanced dental pa-
ideal labor/birth environment. I Music a c c o m p a n i m e n t increases subse- tient comfort is R. Melzack's gate
is also an important component in quent intrapartum use of music. control theory, by which impulses
several commercially available tapes triggered by musical stimuli will over-
and records for relaxing during child- ride pain signals carried by smaller
BACKGROUND
birth preparation, 2 for exercising pre- nerve fibers. He has demonstrated in
natally and postnatally, and for en- The therapeutic uses of music are the the laboratory that auditory stimula-
hancing parenting and breastfeeding. subject of a growing body of litera- tion, in the form of stereophonic
Although the potential for music to ture. Music therapy has established music and white noise (sound con-
e n h a n c e both psychological and value in programs for the mentally sisting of all frequencies), coupled
physical health has been recorded retarded, the physically handi- with a strong suggestion that pain will
since the time of the ancient Greeks? capped, children and adults with be abolished, provide an effective
little systematically obtained infor- emotional disturbances and behavior pain control strategy. 7
mation about the subjective re- disorders, and geriatric clients. 4 In Only a limited number of reports
sponses of contemporary women to these areas of application, the have attempted to relate the pre-
the use of music for childbearing is uplifting effects of music arise from ceding findings and recommenda-
available. Such information is poten- music's ability to promote interper- tions, which are based on work with
tially useful to health care providers sonal relationships, facilitate achieve- the ill, the institutionalized, or individ-
and educators concerned with as- ment of self-esteem, and to energize uals in laboratory settings, to healthy
sisting pregnant women in obtaining and bring order through rhythm. women in labor. Richard Stevens re-
a satisfying childbirth experience. To The use of music in health care ferred to music in his description of
fill this gap, an investigation was settings where music may decrease psychological strategies for manage-
undertaken to determine factors the client's discomfort and hence ment of pain in prepared child-
affecting the actual use of music dur- potentiate or reduce the n e e d for birth. 8,9 He considered music, which
anesthetics is gaining increasing he classified as a "distraction" type
support. Music is advocated as of cognitive control utilizing inter-
Address correspondence to Lucy Newmark
Sammons, 2608 Campeche Court, San an adjunct to routine anesthetic ference, to be of comparative-
Ramon, CA 94583. procedures in the operating room S ly low effectiveness for pain man-