Music-imagery Intervention

In today's healthcare environment, there is an urgent need to address job burnout because of its negative impact on medical personnel and consequently, service delivery to patients (Gray-Toft & Anderson, 1981). The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of music-imagery on self-reported burnout, sense of coherence and job satisfaction in nursing personnel, and to examine the self-reported perceptions of nursing personnel with regards to the music-imagery experiences. Sixty-five medical personnel who had direct patient contact participated in a two-arm randomized controlled mixed-methods trial. Results revealed that there were no statistically significant differences in change scores between the control and experimental groups for self-reported burnout, sense of coherence, and job satisfaction. Qualitative results on the subjects’ self-report of the interventions indicated that the music-imagery experience helped them to relax, rejuvenate, and re-focus, enabling them to complete their shifts with renewed energy. Various reasons for the differences between the qualitative and quantitative results were discussed, as well as implications for future research.