Music therapy tele-intervention for Chinese college students with anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A pilot, randomized controlled study

This is a pilot, randomized controlled trial study aimed to examine the effect of music therapy tele-intervention in reducing anxiety and depression for college students under the COVID-19 pandemic. Sixteen Chinese college students were recruited and randomly assigned to music therapy relaxation group (MT), support group and control group. Both MT and support groups received four 60-minute sessions over the period of two weeks. The Chinese version of the Beck Anxiety Inventory scale (BAI-C) and the Chinese version of the Beck Depression Inventory-13 scale (BDI-13) were used to assess the state of anxiety and depression. A follow-up assessment was taken two weeks after the post-test. Results indicated significant decrease in symptoms of depression and anxiety for participants in the MT group. The findings suggested the sustained effectiveness of the music therapy intervention, as evidenced by the continued reduction of symptoms two weeks after the intervention. The considerations of applying music therapy tele-intervention with Chinese college students during the pandemic were discussed.