The effect of music on pain and anxiety of women during labour on first time pregnancy: A study from Turkey

Abstract Objective This study aims at analyzing the effect of music on pain and anxiety felt by women in labor during their first pregnancy. Method When the pregnant women in the experimental group progressed into the active phase of the labor, they were made to listen to music in Acemasiran mode with earplugs for 3 h (20 min of listening with 10-min breaks). Findings It was observed that after the first-hour women indicated that their pain was statistically less in the experimental group. Trait anxiety scores of the women in labor were similar for experimental and control groups. Following the practice, state anxiety average scores became lower in favor of the experimental group and the correlation was statistically significant. Conclusion In order to facilitate women's coping with labor pain and improve their wellbeing with the activity during the labor, musicotherapy, a non-pharmacological method, is an effective, simple and economical method.