Music Therapy for Chronic Disease
Recruiting in Palo Alto (17 mi)
Age: 18+
Sex: Any
Travel: May Be Covered
Time Reimbursement: Varies
Trial Phase: Academic
Recruiting
Sponsor: Samuel Rodgers-Melnick
Disqualifiers: Covid-19, Psychosis, Cancer treatment, others
No Placebo Group
Approved in 1 Jurisdiction
Trial Summary
What is the purpose of this trial?
Conduct a randomized trial (n = 60: with n = 30 receiving music therapy and n = 30 receiving usual care) to investigate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of the MAJOR CHORD music therapy intervention compared to usual care on (a) health-related quality of life (e.g., physical function, depression, anxiety, fatigue, and pain interference), (b) perceived stress, (c) self-efficacy, and (d) 30-day readmission rates
Will I have to stop taking my current medications?
The trial information does not specify whether you need to stop taking your current medications. It seems likely that you can continue your usual medications, but it's best to confirm with the trial coordinators.
What data supports the effectiveness of the treatment Music Therapy for Chronic Disease?
Is music therapy safe for humans?
How does music therapy differ from other treatments for chronic disease?
Music therapy is unique because it uses music as a therapeutic tool to improve mood, reduce stress, and enhance relaxation, which can support emotional and physical well-being. Unlike traditional medical treatments, it involves interactive techniques like playing instruments and singing, as well as listening to music, making it a holistic approach that can be integrated with other therapies to improve quality of life.17101112
Eligibility Criteria
This trial is for patients with chronic illnesses like heart failure or COPD. Participants should be adults who are currently hospitalized and have a history of these conditions. They must be able to give consent and participate in music therapy sessions.Inclusion Criteria
I am between 30 and 89 years old.
Agreed to be contacted for the qualitative interview during consenting process for the RCT
Access to Wi-Fi, active email address, laptop, tablet, smartphone, and/or PC with videoconferencing capabilities at home or the facility in which they will be discharged
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Exclusion Criteria
I am currently diagnosed with or suspected to have COVID-19.
Included on the Music Therapy Referral patient list in the EHR
Significant hearing and/or visual impairment as documented in EHR
See 11 more
Trial Timeline
Screening
Participants are screened for eligibility to participate in the trial
2-4 weeks
Treatment
Participants receive two in-person music therapy sessions before discharge and two virtual sessions post-discharge, focusing on music-assisted relaxation, imagery, and disease-specific content.
4 weeks
2 in-person visits, 2 virtual visits
Follow-up
Participants are monitored for safety and effectiveness after treatment, with follow-up measures completed using REDCap surveys at 15 and 30 days post-discharge.
4 weeks
Surveys at 15 and 30 days post-discharge
Extension
Participants in the control arm are offered a single virtual music therapy session after 30 days post-discharge.
1 session
Treatment Details
Interventions
- Music Therapy (Behavioral Intervention)
Trial OverviewThe MAJOR CHORD study tests if music therapy can improve life quality, reduce stress, boost confidence in managing health (self-efficacy), and lower the chance of being readmitted to the hospital within 30 days compared to usual care.
Participant Groups
2Treatment groups
Experimental Treatment
Active Control
Group I: Music TherapyExperimental Treatment1 Intervention
Participants will complete a series of questionnaires after enrolling, 15 days post hospital discharge, and 30 days post hospital discharge. Board-certified music therapists (i.e., MT-BC credential) will provide two music therapy sessions, not to occur on the same day, that include education and disease-specific content (e.g., harmonica exercises for respiratory health \[COPD\] or music-based breathing exercises \[HF\]) prior to patients' discharge and two virtual music therapy sessions that address music-assisted relaxation and imagery, additional techniques for managing psychosocial stressors, and gratitude exercises post-discharge.
Group II: ControlActive Control1 Intervention
No additional intervention will be conducted for this arm during their study participation. Participants will complete a series of questionnaires after enrolling, 15 days post hospital discharge, and 30 days post hospital discharge. Participants randomized to the control arm will be offered a single virtual music therapy session after 30 days post-discharge. No data will be collected during this music therapy session.
Find a Clinic Near You
Research Locations NearbySelect from list below to view details:
University Hospitals Cleveland Medical CenterCleveland, OH
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Who Is Running the Clinical Trial?
Samuel Rodgers-MelnickLead Sponsor
Kulas FoundationCollaborator
References
The Use of Music Therapy During the Treatment of Cancer Patients: A Collection of Evidence. [2020]Music therapy is one of the oldest forms of creative art therapy and has been shown to have effects in different clinical and therapeutic settings, such as schizophrenia, pain, cardiovascular parameters, and dementia. This article provides an overview of some of the recent findings in this field and also reports two single case vignettes that offer insight into day-to-day applications of clinical music therapy.
The effect of music therapy on patients' perception and manifestation of pain, anxiety, and patient satisfaction. [2015]An extensive review and synthesis of current research was completed to identify the clinical benefit of using music therapy in the hospital setting. It demonstrated that music therapy has the potential to improve the hospital experience of patients.
Soothing the heart with music: A feasibility study of a bedside music therapy intervention for critically ill patients in an urban hospital setting. [2020]Music therapy has been shown to be effective for reducing anxiety and pain in people with a serious illness. Few studies have investigated the feasibility of integrating music therapy into general inpatient care of the seriously ill, including the care of diverse, multiethnic patients. This leaves a deficit in knowledge for intervention planning. This study investigated the feasibility and effectiveness of introducing music therapy for patients on 4 inpatient units in a large urban medical center. Capacitated and incapacitated patients on palliative care, transplantation, medical intensive care, and general medicine units received a single bedside session led by a music therapist.
Effects of music and music therapy on medical patients: a meta-analysis of the research and implications for the future. [2022]Although the literature examining the effects of music medicine or music therapy interventions in medical settings is both large and growing, this literature is difficult to summarize because of of its diversity. The current article reports the results of a recent meta-analysis of 183 studies across 11 medical specialty areas with 40 categories of outcome variables. Emphasized are results for patients with cancer, those who are terminally ill, and patients with human immunodeficiency virus. Meta-analysis results revealed significantly greater effect sizes for outcomes of music therapy versus music medicine interventions, and significant and homogeneous size effects for several outcome variables, including pain, well-being, mood, and nausea/vomiting. Suggestions for future research are provided.
Effects of Educational Music Therapy on State Hope for Recovery in Acute Care Mental Health Inpatients: A Cluster-Randomized Effectiveness Study. [2020]Background: There has been an increasing emphasis on recovery as the expectation for people with mental health disorders. Purpose: The purpose of this effectiveness study is to determine if group-based educational music therapy can immediately impact state hope for recovery in acute care mental health patients. Research questions included: will acute care mental health inpatients who participate in a single music therapy session have higher agency and pathway aspects of state hope for recovery than patients in a control condition? Will there be differences in state hope for recovery as a result of hope-oriented songwriting or lyric analysis interventions? Method: Participants (N = 169) were cluster randomized to one of three single-session conditions: lyric analysis, songwriting, or wait-list control. Results: There was no significant between-group difference. However, both music therapy conditions tended to have slightly higher mean pathway, agency, and total state hope scores than the control condition even within the temporal parameters of a single music therapy session. There was no between-group difference in the songwriting and lyric analysis interventions. Conclusion: Although not significant, results support that educational music therapy may impact state hope for recovery within the temporal parameters of a single session. The specific type of educational music therapy intervention did not affect results. Implications for practice, limitations, and suggestions for future research are provided.
Music therapy in ICU. [2015]This paper provides an overview of the benefits of using music therapy in intensive care. Music therapy is described as a complementary therapy and can be used to complement more conventional and medically oriented treatments available to patients who are critically ill. The physiological and psychological effects of this intervention are discussed.
Music therapy applied to complex blast injury in interdisciplinary care: a case report. [2020]Purpose: Music therapy has a long history of treating the physiological, psychological, and neurological injuries of war. Recently, there has been an increase in the use of music therapy and other creative arts therapies in the care of combat injured service members returning to the United States from Iraq and Afghanistan, especially those with complex blast-related injuries. This case report describes the role of music therapy in the interdisciplinary rehabilitation of a severely injured service member. Methods: Music therapy was provided as stand-alone treatment and in co-treatment with speech language pathology, physical therapy, and occupational therapy. The report is based on clinical notes, self-reports by the patient and his wife, and interviews with rehabilitation team members. Results: In collaboration with other treatment disciplines, music therapy contributed to improvements in range of motion, functional use of bilateral upper extremities, strength endurance, breath support, articulation, task-attention, compensatory strategies, social integration, quality of life, and overall motivation in the recovery process. The inclusion of music therapy in rehabilitation was highly valued by the patient, his family, and the treatment team. Conclusions: Music therapy has optimized the rehabilitation of a service member through assisting the recovery process on a continuum from clinic to community. Implications for Rehabilitation Music therapy in stand-alone sessions and in co-treatment with traditional disciplines can enhance treatment outcomes in functional domains of motor, speech, cognition, social integration, and quality of life for military populations. Music therapists can help ease discomfort and difficulty associated with rehabilitation activities, thereby enhancing patient motivation and participation in interdisciplinary care. Music therapy assists treatment processes from clinic to community, making it highly valued by the patient, family, and interdisciplinary team members in military healthcare. Music therapy provides a platform to prevent social isolation by promoting community integration through music performance.
Music and elderly. [2014]Since more than 3 decades now, music with seniors (or younger persons), either as an educational or recreational activity, but also as a therapeutically approach has progressed. Even nowadays, in the medical field, more and more studies prove its efficiency as complementary therapy with no known side-effects. The areas where music therapy has a positive outcome, reach from pulmonary disorders to a lot of neurological chronic diseases, including aphasia, dementia or Parkinson. And at the end of life, music therapy has found a remarkable place for expressing or supporting strong emotional feelings. Evidence-based results on physiological and hormonal changes will also be reviewed.
The effect of a live music therapy intervention on critically ill paediatric patients in the intensive care unit: A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest study. [2023]Music therapy as a nonpharmacological means of managing patient pain, anxiety, and discomfort is a recognised technique, although it is not widely used in the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU).
[Music therapy in different dental specialties]. [2015]Music is generally recognized as the best and, in parallel, the simplest medium of communication. The music therapy, applied in various spheres linked to a therapeutic process, is particularly valued in rehabilitation, medicine, humanities and social sciences. Present study aimed at determination of usefulness of selected techniques of music therapy in different dental specialties.
Music therapy in supportive cancer care. [2022]The purpose of this paper is to show some aspects of music therapy application in cancer care and to present the integration of music therapy program into a continuous supportive cancer care for inpatients. A cancer diagnosis is one of the most feared and serious life events that causes stress in individuals and families. Cancer disrupts social, physical and emotional well-being and results in a range of emotions, including anger, fear, sadness, guilt, embarrassment and shame. Music therapy is a part of a complementary medicine program in supportive cancer care which accompanies medical treatment. There are many benefits of music therapy for cancer patients-interactive music therapy techniques (instrumental improvisation, singing) as well as receptive music therapy techniques (listening to recorded or live music, music and imaginary) can be used to improve mood, decrease stress, pain, anxiety level and enhance relaxation. Music therapy is an effective form of supporting cancer care for patients during the treatment process. It may be also basic for planning effective programs of rehabilitation to promote wellness, improve physical and emotional well-being and the quality of life.
Music therapy in palliative care: current perspectives. [2004]As the music therapy profession has developed internationally over the last 25 years, so has its role in palliative care. Music is a highly versatile and dynamic therapeutic modality, lending itself to a variety of music therapy techniques used to benefit both those living with life-threatening illnesses and their family members and caregivers. This article will give a broad overview of the historical roots of music therapy and introduce the techniques that are employed in current practice. By combining a review of mainstream music therapy practice involving musical improvisation, song-writing and receptive/recreational techniques with case material from my own experience, this article aims to highlight the potential music therapy holds as an effective holistic practice for palliative care, whatever the care setting.