Featured Review: Music interventions for improving psychological and physical outcomes in cancer patients

Are there benefits of offering music interventions as a complementary treatment to people with cancer?Cancer may result in extensive emotional, physical and social suffering. Current cancer care increasingly incorporates psychosocial interventions to improve quality of life. Music therapy and music medicine interventions have been used to alleviate symptoms and treatment side effects and address psychosocial needs in people with cancer. In music medicine interventions, the patient simply listens to pre-recorded music that is offered by a medical professional. Music therapy requires the implementation of a music intervention by a trained music therapist, the presence of a therapeutic process and the use of personally tailored music experiences.A team of Cochrane authors based in the United States worked with Cochrane Gynaecological, Neuro-oncology and Orphan Cancers   to update a previous Cochrane Review from 2011, which assessed and compared the effects of music therapy and music medicine interventions for physiological and physical outcomes in people with cancer. 22 new trials were identified for inclusion in this update. In total, 52 trials with a total of 3731 participants are included in this Cochrane Review. Most trials were at high risk of bias and, therefore, these results need to be interpreted with caution.This systematic review indicates that music interventions may have beneficial effects on anxiety, pain, fatigue, depression, and quality of life in people with ca...
Source: Cochrane News and Events - Category: Information Technology Authors: Source Type: news