ABSTRACT
The purpose of this post hoc analysis was to investigate whether the use of music therapy to meet the emotional needs of adults in inpatient rehabilitation had any impact on patient length of stay. Subjects used in this study were all patients admitted to the rehabilitation center between January 1 and December 31, 2007 who were referred for music therapy services. After excluding patients who did not meet initial criteria, remaining subjects (N=94) were split into a music therapy experimental group and a no-contact control group. Patients were then placed into one of five diagnostic categories: brain dysfunction, orthopedic conditions, stroke, spinal chord dysfunction and other neurological disorders. Subjects were matched based on age, sex and diagnosis leaving a total of 48 subjects (24 pairs): 40 orthopedic and 8 stroke patients. Comparison of mean length of stay showed a shorter length of stay for the control group by 3.68 days. An independent sampled t-test showed no significant difference. Only one comparison, the male experimental group, demonstrated a shorter length of stay when compared to the male control group but with no significance. Results and further implications for research are discussed.
