Effect of Music Therapy in Relieving Burnout Among Nurses

We aim to explore the potential of music therapy to support burnout among nurses and convenience sampling method will be adopted. This will be a randomized single-blinded, two-arm, parallel study, with data to be collected between August to December 2020. Eligible participants will be assigned to either music therapy group or the waiting-list control group. This study will be submitted to Leroj Atama Memorial Hospital at the Ministry of Health and Human Services and the College of the Marshall Islands Research committee for approval.We will enroll nurses from the General units of Leroj Atama Memorial Hospital in Majuro, Marshall Islands. The invitation to participate will be communicated by the Chief Nursing Officer and baseline assessment will be given by a trained study interviewer for participant recruitment. A structured questionnaire will be used to collect data on demographics, burnout, depression, stress, and anxiety. Participants will be recruited from the emergency units and 5 inpatients wards of general hospital of Leroj Atama Memorial Hospital in Majuro, Marshall Islands. We anticipate to enroll 42 nurses into this study. They will be divided into 2 group which are 21 for music group and 21 for control group.Random assignment will be performed by generating sequential numbers using computer software. The random sequential number will then be sealed in thick, opaque, consecutively numbered envelopes before data collections by an independent investigator. Patients will be allocated to either intervention or control group depending on the sequences number revealed by principal investigator. all participants in the music group will receive music intervention over five weeks. Each participant receives music intervention 30 mins per session (2 pm or 4 pm), three days in a week according to their schedule. Music intervention will be conducted at a quiet environment (i.e., nursing lounge) in the hospital. Four types of music protocols based on different rhythm or tones will provide to them, such as classical, slow music, traditional, and Christian song, before the session. Participants will listen to the songs selected and be given mp3 and earpiece for delivering the intervention. During each music session, individual will be advised to close his/her eyes and relaxed and only think of a happy memory. Participant in the waiting-list control group will be asked to maintain their daily routine and they will receive music intervention after the completion of the study.