Music during after-death care: a focus group study.
BACKGROUND
The intensive care unit (ICU) is not only a place to recover from injuries incurred during accidents and from serious illness. For many patients, it is also a place where they might die. Nursing care does not stop when a patient dies; rather, it continues with the care of the deceased and with family support. The aims of this study were (1) to explore the experiences and attitudes of nurses towards the use of ambient music in the ICU during after-death care and (2) to describe the feedback nurses received from relatives when music was used during the viewing.


METHODS
A qualitative design employing focus group interviews was used. Three focus group interviews with 15 nurses were conducted. All the interviews were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim and analysed using qualitative content analysis.


RESULTS
Six main categories of attitudes emerged from the analysis: (1) different attitudes among nurses towards the use of music; (2) music affects the atmosphere; (3) music affects emotions; (4) use of music was situational; (5) special choice of music and (6) positive feedback from the bereaved.


CONCLUSIONS
This study demonstrates that music might be helpful for nurses during after-death care as well as for the care of the relatives.


CONCLUSIONS
Including ambient music in an after-death care programme can help nurses show respect for the deceased as the body is being prepared. Music played during the viewing may be a way of helping relatives in their time of grieving. It may ease the situation by making that event special and memorable. However, standardizing this intervention does not seem appropriate. Rather, the individual nurse and the family must decide whether music is to be used in a particular situation.
Department of Heart Disease, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway. marho-73@tele2.no
Marianne S
MS
Holm
Nina
N
Fålun
Eva
E
Gjengedal
Tone M
TM
Norekvål
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001293:Attitude to Death; D003422:Critical Care / Q000379:methods*; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006117:Grief; D017051:Hospice Care / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009146:Music; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology*; D012944:Social Support; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation