Activity
Comments provided by the musician also reflected the challenges of the method of delivery , while noting some of the benefits of the sessions .
The musician said : ‘ It ’ s hard being remote . If patients talk while I ’ m singing , I can see that they ’ re speaking , but can ’ t hear what they ’ re saying . Whereas in person , I would hear that .’
However , the musician also reported seeing smiles , clapping , some singing along , and staff pleased with hearing the music . The musician also said that patients were able to make genre requests ( country and jazz ) and that they were able to deliver on that .
While the musician noted ‘ some really good interactions and good verbal feedback ’, they also highlighted that the hospital Wi-Fi and / or the iPads could be unreliable , and that connecting with each other could take several attempts .
The feedback represented a range of experience , which was mostly positive , with some challenges and problems identified .
Was it beneficial to patients ?
As already noted , while it was not possible to replicate the same approach of the ‘ Let there be love ’ study , our measures of patients ’ moods , interaction with the musician and engagement with music , and observable relaxation , broadly replicated its findings .
The quantitative data demonstrated a benefit to patients in relation to improved mood , relaxation and in distraction from hospital , while qualitatively the majority of comments reflected a pleasurable experience .
Taken together , the data collected suggests that the remote delivery of the same musical intervention was beneficial to patients . Based on this , I feel that that the interventions should continue remotely during the pandemic , but that face-to-face interventions should resume once possible .
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It was apparent that the majority of patients and staff members enjoyed the sessions and it had an overall positive impact on the ward .”
Astell AJ , Bouranis N , Hoey J , Lindauer A , Mihailidis A , Nugent C , Robillard J
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