The Effect of Live Music via the Iso-Principle in Palliative Care

Greater longevity and mobility have made us more acutely concerned with death and the process of dying, resulting in the awareness that dying individuals and their families have unique needs. To meet those needs, palliative care programs as "total care" have rapidly increased, often including music therapy. Although music therapy is used with increasing frequency in these programs, quantitative studies supporting the effects of music in qalliative care are lacking. Therefore, this study was conducted to quantitatively examine the effects of live music via the iso-princile on pain management in palliative care. A total of forty subjects participated in this study and were evenly divided into two groups. Self-rating of pain and pulse rate were measured before music and after music. Results from this study support that the use of live music via the iso-principle is an effective tool for pain management in palliative care. This study should be especially useful to professionals in hospice and palliative care programs, or anyone else who may be considering utilizing music therapy programs in professional health care environments.