Music therapy integrates with palliative care to give further relief to the terminal patients of the Hospice “Casa di Betania”, residential center of the pious foundation of worship and religion “Cardinal G. Panico” of Tricase, in the lower Salento, which manages a hospital pole of excellence. They called it “Notes of hope” Because through a path made of sounds and melodies, that shock of resilience is released that allows you to face suffering in the most difficult and winding moments of life.
Within the reception and hospitalization structure, a comfort and communication space for patients, their family members and healthcare personnel who has the absolute protagonist, with its ability to improve any therapeutic activity has been created. Each harmony warms up the heart and keeps the mind alive by improving the mood and psyche. “Based on the scientific evidence of the last few years, we have been able to see that music has positive effects on the improvement of mood, on the reduction of anxious states and on physical and mental relaxation, with benefits also on the perception of physical pain and on the quality of sleep”, he explains Maria Grazia De Paolapsychologist of the Hospice “Casa di Betania”. «For these reasons, music can be considered as a real therapeutic tool, also recognized by the guidelines of palliative care. The project does not involve only patients, but also family members, through the creation of a space for comparison and emotional communication. Healthcare personnel is also an integral part of the path, both as a beneficiary, through moments of listening and relaxation aimed at contrasting stress, and as a co-construction of an increasingly human and respectful care environment of the needs of the person “.
During listening to solidarity and modulated, strong emotions emerge that allow you to implement the music-therapeutic actions for patients, their families and health workers on a path of meaning and relief. There are numerous songs the songs proposed, between low intensity classic music and the songs of some Italian songwriters (Baglioni, Battiato, Venditti, Jovanotti and others) who are chosen directly by the patients in order to share their effects and benefits.
Music therapy is now a fundamental part of the palliative care plan, through the implementation of two sessions: one morning, from 9.30 to 11.30, and one afternoon, from 16 to 18. In perspective, it will be possible to create a database in which patients and results of ad hoc psychometric tools will be collected to evaluate the positive effects of music on the mood tone, on the anxious symptoms and on the quality of sleep.
The Hospice House of Bethany has launched assistance and treatment for patients in the terminal phase for different pathologies, including oncological one for patients and care for patients. The pious foundation, conducted by the Marcelline nuns, takes care of the patient in his totality, in his weaknesses, in his need to be understood, supported, helped and loved. It is a constant commitment to get close through the exercise of the profession at all levels, making testimony of one’s human and Christian beliefs, with competence, availability and charity. In the foundation, the clinic, research and training operate in a synergistic way, in order to guarantee the most appropriate and effective treatments on the basis of scientific evidence. With the “Notes of Hope” project, the Hospice confirms its vocation to take care not only of the body, but also of the soul and memory of patients, increasingly embracing a multidimensional approach to the disease.
