23.7. 1993 Vitoria-Gasteiz / Spain - World Federation of Music Therapy

Each subject was rated at baseline and before and after
treatment from a two minute video. The ratings were
carried out by raters unaware of the nature of the
research study.
The ratings involved the observation of nine body parts
and an assessment of how relaxed each one appeared.
The ratings were carried out on a five point scale from
completely relaxed (O) to very anxious (4), and they
were added together to provide a behavioural rating
score.
While we will be looking in more detail at one particular
subject, the demands of time preclude a detailed
discussion of each individual's response. However, the
following two bar charts illustrate the impact of relaxing
music.
(Figure 1) The first bar chart shows the cumulative
pulse rate and behavioural score for each subject. The
cumulative score is the total of the differences between
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the pre and post-treatment behavioural and pulse rate
scores. The cumulative scores obtained for subjects B &
D five treatment sessions were doubled in order to allow
for a direct comparison with subjects A & C's ten
treatment sessions.
The eight minus scores confirm the positive effect of
music on each subject's pulse rate and behavioural
rating, and suggest that in either form - 'live' or
recorded, relaxing music could be used with the
mentally handicapped to reduce anxiety.
(Figure 2) A second bar chart compares the treatment
effectiveness of the relaxing music with the control
condition. It shows the difference between the pulse
rate scores recorded before and after each session.
The differences were added together to give the
cumulative pulse rate score shown for each subject.
The cumulative behavioural scores were obtained in a
similar manner. The bar chart indicates that, in
comparison with the control condition, both music