Music therapy in patients with disorders of consciousness: an integrative review

Introduction: Music therapy is widely used for treatment and care in various diseases including disorders of consciousness, dementia, stroke, psychiatric disorders, Parkinson’s disease, pain of several origins among others. It is known that listening to music influences mood and arousal, which can improve performance on a variety of cognitive tasks. Objective: To analyze the information available in the literature about scientific evidences of the use of music as a therapeutic resource. Method: This is an integrative review with search of articles published in national and international journals indexed in databases and journal banks: Pubmed, Cinahl, Web of Science and SciELO, between December/2017 and January/2018. We used the descriptors “music” and “disorders of consciousness” in Portuguese, English and Spanish. Results: We selected 14 heterogeneous studies with good methodological quality, among which we highlight interventional and observational studies with a degree of recommendation A. Conclusion: The study concludes to exist some evidence in the scientific literature about the effectiveness and efficacy of music therapy in the treatment and evaluation of people in coma, minimally conscious states and persistent vegetative state.