Interventions of Music in Nursing

Brianna (Bri) Fox, RN, BSN (pictured left with Dr. Miller) and Abigail (Abbey) Brown, RN, BSN (picture below with Dr. Miller) share a common interest in music therapy with Mindi Miller, RN, PhD. In December 2012, Bri presented her Honors work at the COST Research Day, and Abbey presented her poster at the COST Research Day in December 2014. Abbey also presented her poster at the National Collegiate Honors Council in November 2015. These now BU alumni with Dr. Miller published their article “Interventions of Music: Reviewing Evidence for Better Practice” in the 2016 International Archives of Nursing and Health Care (IANHC), 2:045. Bri’s research centered on therapeutic music for adolescents receiving chemotherapy while Abbey’s study focused on musical interventions to promote behavioral change in troubled youth.

Dr. Miller, a Certified Rehabilitation Registered Nurse (CRRN) studies the benefits of music to facilitate healing. She states, “We recognize that higher education begins with General Education that builds toward lifelong interests and skill sets, including hobbies like music or scholarship activities - or a combination of both! The work that Abbey, Bri, and I did over four years depicts the resources that BU offers. For instance, the Honors Program and the COST Research Days assisted students and faculty in sharing their collaborative work and excelling beyond their BU experiences, as our publication exemplifies.”

The recent article in IANHC resulted from teamwork by undergraduates (now alumni) and nursing faculty who gathered best practice standards in music theory and then provided additional evidence-based recommendations. Best practice was compared between different groups and the published literature in order to suggest “better” practices for using therapeutic music in healthcare. When implementing musical interventions, individual differences like sensory deprivation in some patients, sensory overload in others, and unique preferences and neuro-pathology must be taken into account, in order that each nursing care plan related to music fits the targeted outcomes for individual patients.


Dr. Vandivere, Honors Program Director commented that, “We are so proud of Bri Fox and Abbey Brown. They have helped us understand the ways that we can use Honors to create research projects that will actively help nursing students. Bri and Abbey have taken their fine intellects, their drive, and their commitments to nursing and figured out a way to advance their education to higher levels of creative and original research. They each developed a sustained and original project that helps them understand their own abilities, empowers them as individuals, and makes them highly marketable in whatever they choose to do. More, they have given us a model of how to make Honors work for nursing students.”