Effect of Music in Inducing Sleep among Children in Need of Special Care in a Child Shelter Institution: Basis for Independent Nursing Intervention

Abstract

For as long as anyone can remember the lullaby song has been an effective tool for helping babies to fall asleep.  The song followed by the gentle humming of the same tune can put the most anxious baby calm and sound asleep. Sleep is quintessential to our lives. Every human being needs to sleep in order to survive.

The purpose of this pre-test/post-test study was to determine the effect of music in inducing sleep on the sleep onset latency of the children in need of special care in a child caring institution.  Purposive sampling was used in this study to observe the sleep onset latency of children ages 1 – 6 years old, with no hearing impairment, can comprehend verbal instructions, oriented to time, place, and person and has no severe physiological or psychological problems.  There were 16 research participants, male and female.  Effect of music will be measured based on the duration of the sleep onset latency (NREM stage 1) of the research participants from the time they lie down on bed up to the time they fall asleep at night.  One day was allotted for the observation of the sleep onset latency which served as the basis before music is played.  Music was played 45 minutes from the time the participants lie on bed to sleep for seven days.  Results revealed that there is significant difference on the effect of music in inducing sleep based on the shortened duration of sleep onset latency among the participants.  However based on the effect of music in inducing sleep, there is no significant relationship according to the profile of the participants.  The findings of this study provide evidence for the use of music therapy as an independent nursing intervention to induce sleep.

Keywords: Music, sleep, child shelter institution