Cancer patients with sickle cell disease report reduced pain and anxiety in response to music therapy

A new study from University Hospitals (UH) Connor Whole Health found that cancer patients and patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) treated at an academic cancer center reported clinically significant reductions in pain and anxiety in response to music therapy. Additionally, patients with sickle cell disease who received music therapy reported significantly higher pain and anxiety at baseline than patients with hematological and/or oncological disorders excluding sickle cell disease. The results of this study were recently published in the journal, Integrative Cancer Therapies, a leading journal focused on understanding the science of integrative cancer treatments.

In this retrospective study conducted between January 2017 and July 2020, music therapists at UH Connor Whole Health provided 4,002 music therapy sessions to 1,152 patients during 2,400 encounters at UH Seidman Cancer Center, making it the largest survey on the real effectiveness of music therapy. in hematology and oncology to date. This study builds on a history of landmark studies in music therapy funded by the Kulas Foundation, the nation’s leading foundation for funding scientific research in music therapy, which studied the effectiveness of music therapy in palliative care, surgery and sickle cell disease at UH.

The music therapy programming offered at Seidman Cancer Center provides a unique and effective means of symptom management for patients and their family members throughout their cancer journey. In particular, music therapy services are fully integrated into the inpatient and outpatient units to ensure continuity of care during treatment transition periods. »

Seneca Block, Director of Expressive Therapies with Lauren Rich-Fine, UH Connor Whole Health

UH Connor Whole Health operates the largest health system-based music therapy program in the United States. Board-certified music therapists work with providers across the system to help patients and their families manage the physical and emotional toll of illness or hospitalization. Additionally, UH Connor Whole Health offers a diverse offering of integrative health and medicine modalities, including acupuncturechiropractic and integrative medicine consultations, focusing on the overall well-being of patients.

In “Clinical Delivery and Effectiveness of Music Therapy in Hematology and Oncology: An EMMPIRE Retrospective Study”, researchers examined the clinical delivery and effectiveness of music therapy at the UH Seidman Cancer Center and compared the effectiveness of music therapy on pain, anxiety and fatigue between adult patients with sickle cell disease compared to adult patients with hematological and/or oncological diseases excluding sickle cell disease (the HemOnc group).

Music therapists provided interventions including listening to live music, creating active music, and writing songs to address patient needs including coping, pain management, anxiety reduction and self-expression. As part of clinical care, music therapists rated patients’ self-reported pain, anxiety, and fatigue on a scale of 0 to 10 at the start and end of each session and documented their sessions in the health record. electronic.

“What makes this research unique is our ability to collect all of our data in the electronic health record and then extract and analyze it to understand the real impact of music therapy,” said Sam Rodgers-Melnick , music therapist, first author of the study, and co-investigator on the EMMPIRE project (Effectiveness of Medical Music Therapy Practice: Integrative Research Using the Electronic Health Record) examining the effectiveness of music therapy across the UH health system. “This research highlights the increased symptom burden that adults with SCD face in hospital and the significant impact that a single session of music therapy can have on their pain and anxiety.” The present study was a 3-year grant funded by the Kulas Foundation to Jeffery A. Dusek PhD, Director of Research, UH Connor Whole Health, Block and Rodgers-Melnick.

Rodgers-Melnick was the principal investigator of the first systematic research into the use of music therapy for people with SCD and has led several Kulas Foundation-funded studies on the topic since 2014. These studies support the benefits of music therapy for managing acute pain, improving self-efficacy and quality of life, and improving knowledge about sickle cell disease in adolescents and young adults transitioning from pediatric to adult care.

Results from the recent study showed that in the combined sample of patients in the SCD and HemOnc groups, statistically significant reductions in pain (1.48 units), anxiety (2.58 units), and fatigue (0.84 units) were observed, with changes in pain and anxiety exceeding clinically significant thresholds. Music therapy sessions differed between the two groups, with interventions including active music making, songwriting, and song recording being much more prevalent in the SCD group than in the HemOnc group. Additionally, in an analysis of patient feedback on music therapy, patients expressed themes such as pleasure, gratitude, and improvement in mood, pain, and anxiety.

“It helps me release everyday pressure and stress,” said one patient featured in the study’s qualitative analysis. “I’ve had a lot of tough times, but this really gives me courage. You gave me a way to express my feelings.” Patient responses highlight the importance of music therapist expertise in meeting patient needs. As Rodgers-Melnick states, “Our work goes beyond providing personalized responsive musical interventions to treat symptoms. The ways in which we build therapeutic relationships with patients and actively engage them in the musical process are essential to help patients express their thoughts and feelings and cope with a long series of treatments at the cancer center.”

“Integrative oncology uses complementary therapies, such as music therapy discussed in this study, to improve the well-being of those affected by cancer. Using an evidence-based approach and building research we allow you to confidently build a program around supporting patients with integrative modalities as part of a symptom management strategy they may be experiencing through therapies or cancer,” explained Santosh Rao, MD, board-certified medical oncologist and provider of integrative medicine and medical director of integrative oncology at UH Connor Whole Health.