Effect of Receptive Music Therapy on Exam-related Anxiety in Postgraduate Medical Students

Exam anxiety is one of the most common problems that learners face during their studies and affects their academic performance.Music therapy (MT) is defined as the use of music for therapeutic purposes and to achieve nonmusical goals such as anxiety reduction.The aim of the present research is to evaluate the effect of mindfulness-guided MT intervention using an instrumental rendition of raga Hamsadhvani in relieving exam-related anxiety among Indian medical students.Fifty-five exam-going postgraduate students from departments of anesthesia, obstetrics and gynecology, ear, nose, and throat (ENT), general surgery, and pediatrics were included in the study.The study population of students was provided set of two proformas that included the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and the World Health Organization (WHO) Well-Being Index (WHO-5) for self-reported scoring.During 2-week intervention period, students were asked to listen to 10 minutes of instrumental raga Hamsadhvani everyday via a link shared on their phones, 5 minutes each in the morning and evening.The pre-and postintervention proformas were measured and recorded on day 0 and day 15 of the study.The self-reported BAI score and WHO Well-Being score was compared before and after the MT intervention.There was reduction in both the scores which were found to be statistically significant (p-value < 0.05).The results indicate that with the help of receptive MT, the students were able to cope with their exam-related anxiety and showcased an enhanced well-being index.