Music therapy treatments in an inpatient setting—A randomized pilot study

•Music therapy may have its value in acute medical setting in improving the mood of patients.•Music therapy reduces the pain of hospitalized patients compared to those who did not receive music therapy intervention.•Music therapy reduces patient’s anxiety during hospitalization compared to those not receiving music therapy intervention.•Music therapy has the potential to help hospitalized patients cope with stress and depression during treatment. Many studies have shown the positive effects of music therapy on managing anxiety, stress and depression of hospitalized patients. However, data on mood, anxiety, pain, depression, stress and attention level in Australia is limited where music therapy is involved. This randomized controlled pilot study examines this issue. A sample of 26 patients (12 male and 14 female) from the General Medicine Ward were recruited and randomly assigned to a treatment group (n = 12) and control group (n = 14). The treatment group received 30-minutes of individualized music therapy sessions for five consecutive days; they are compared to standard care in the control group. Pain and mood were measured using a Visual Analog Scale, and stress, anxiety and depression were measured using the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS 21). Multivariate regression models were used to examine the change in mood, pain, depression, anxiety and stress in the both groups. Results showed a statistically significant difference in mood, pain and anxiety, but not in depression and stress scores. Moreover, participants in the treatment group showed more hospital satisfaction compared to those in the control group.