Patients who opted for a music-based intervention programme while going through an elective Caesarean delivery saw benefits to their emotional well-being and recovery, a study of 108 women at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) has found.
“Most expectant mothers are given spinal anaesthesia during elective C-sections,” said Associate Professor Sng Ban Leong, the senior author of the study, and the head of KKH’s women’s anaesthesia department.
“During the procedure, they would be awake, may feel anxious and think about possible negative pain experiences,” he said, with pain perception and anxiety prevalent in seven out of every 10 patients.
This, however, improved significantly when music was introduced during the procedure – anxiety scores dropped by 50 per cent and pain magnification – which is when an individual thinks of pain in the worst possible way – decreased by 35 per cent.