Affiliations: [a] Department of Occupational Therapy, College of Medicine, Fu Jen Catholic University, Taipei, Taiwan | [b] Department of Psychology, Municipal Wan Fang Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan | [c] Department of Rehabilitation, Jen-Teh Junior College of Medicine, Nursing and Management, Miaoli, Taiwan
Correspondence:
[*]
Corresponding author: Chien-Hsiou Liu, School of Occupational Therapy, Fu Jen Catholic University, 510 Chung Cheng Rd, Hsinchuang, Taipei 24205, Taiwan. Tel.: +886 2 29052090; Fax: +886 2 29046743: E-mail:062161@mail.fju.edu.tw
Abstract:
BACKGROUND: Work attention in persons with chronic
schizophrenia is an important issue in vocational rehabilitation. Some of
the research literature indicates that background music may influence visual
attention performance. OBJECTIVES: Based on the theory of occupational therapy,
environmental sounds, colors and decorations may affect individual
performance, this study thus examined the influence of music on work
attention in persons with schizophrenia. PARTICIPANTS: Participants were recruited from a halfway
house in Taipei. Forty-nine (49) patients with chronic
schizophrenia volunteered. They had been accepted into vocational
rehabilitation and a work-seeking program. The sample included 20 females
and 29 males. The participant ages ranged between 29 and 63 years old, and
their average age was 47 years old. METHODS: Using a randomized controlled trial (RCT) study,
the participants were assigned to one of three conditions: quiet environment
as the control group (n= 16), classical light music as background music
(n= 16), and popular music as background music (n= 17). RESULTS: For Group 1 (control group/quiet environment),
there was no significant variance (sig = 0.172). For Group 2 (Classical
light music), the intervention revealed significant variance (sig = 0.071*).
For Group 3 (popular music), the intervention had significant variance (sig
= 0.048**). CONCLUSIONS: The introduction of background music tended
to increase attention test scores of persons with schizophrenia. Moreover,
the increase in test attention scores was statistically significant when
popular music was played in the background. This result suggested that
background music may improve attention performance of persons with chronic
schizophrenia. Future research is required with a larger sample size to
support the study results.
