Effect of listening to music on anxiety, pain, and cardiorespiratory parameters in cardiac surgery: study protocol for a randomized clinical trial

BACKGROUND: Preoperative anxiety and postoperative pain are frequent in cardiac surgeries and constitute important stressors for patients, which can cause several complications. One strategy that aims to alleviate these phenomena is listening to music as a non-pharmacological intervention. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of listening to music on preoperative state-anxiety, postoperative pain, at rest and when instructed to cough, and cardiorespiratory parameters in patients undergoing cardiac surgery. METHODS: A randomized, parallel, simple masking clinical trial will be conducted with patients 18 years of age or older who have undergone elective cardiac surgery by sternotomy, who agree to participate in the research and sign a free and informed consent form. Study participants will be randomly divided, in a 1:1 ratio, to one of the two groups: experimental (subjected to listening to music for 20 min in the pre- and postoperative period) or control (standard care in the pre- and postoperative period), using a randomization scheme generated by the Randomization.com website. The sample size calculation was obtained after conducting a pilot study. DISCUSSION: The results of the study may contribute to the implementation of non-pharmacological interventions in health services, highlighting the protocols for listening to music, to minimize anxiety and pain in cardiac surgery. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ReBEC RBR-8mdyhd. Posted on December 10, 2019 SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13063-022-06233-9.