Music and hypnosis for well-being in retirement homes: A pilot study

Journal

American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis

Year

2025

Abstract

Anxiety, pain and poor well-being are major issues in elderly individuals. Complementary interventions, such as music and hypnosis, are increasingly used to address these issues. The objectives of this study were to assess immediate changes in anxiety, pain and well-being during personalized prerecorded music and hypnosis interventions compared to control sessions, and to explore participants’ subjective experiences. We employed a multiple time series model with daily measurements with older people living in retirement homes in rural areas (n = 8). The Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (ESAS) evaluated these three dimensions before and after each session, while participants’ subjective experience was collected using an unstructured interview. The primary results showed a significant improvement in the composite score of anxiety, pain, and well-being for the music (p < .001), hypnosis (p = .0158), and music/hypnosis (p = .013) intervention sessions compared to the control sessions. The secondary results indicated a reduction in anxiety for both the music and music/hypnosis interventions (p < .05), along with a significant improvement in well-being. These effects may be attributed to mechanisms such as absorption, episodic memory, cognitive agency, positive emotion, rhythmic entrainment, and rapport, which could have modulated the interventions’ impact. In conclusion, personalized prerecorded music and hypnosis interventions appear to be effective in enhancing the well-being of older individuals residing in retirement homes. Further studies are needed to assess the generalizability of these results to a larger population from diverse sociodemographic backgrounds, and better understand the subjective experiences that mediate these effects.

Music and Health Institute Terms

Wellness and Well-Being; Anxiety; Elderly; Pain; Music Therapy; Receptive Music Methods; Music Listening; Recorded Music Listening; Emotional Functioning; Psychological Outcomes; Long-Term Care Facility; Subjective Measures; Observational Measures

Indexed Terms

Hypnosis intervention; music intervention; older people; subjective experiences; well-being

Study Type

Quasi-Experimental Study; Quantitative Methods

PubMed ID

Publisher: Routledge _eprint: https://doi.org/10.1080/00029157.2024.2435953 PMID: 39841884

Document Type

Article

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