The effect of participatory selected music intervention model for improving quality of life of older adult cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy : a randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Cancer is one of the world’s most common diseases. The incidence of cancer increases progressively throughout the age span and is a major burden of disease for people aged 55 years and older. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of participatory selected music intervention model on quality of life and decreasing depression in older adult cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. The study was a randomized controlled trial with randomly selected block sizes of 2. The sample groups of 116 patients were the new diagnosis of colorectal, lung and breast cancer or at the first and second time of chemotherapy. The study was taken place at Chemotherapy Unit, King Chulalongkorn Hospital. All 116 subjects were randomly assigned to received either music intervention (n = 58) or control group (n = 58). The patients listened to the music through headphones for 30-60 minutes during a chemotherapy treatment with a total of 2 sessions, and the control group was received a nursing care as usual. All participants were measured for pre-test questionnaires on the quality of life (FACT-G) and Thai Geriatric Depression Scale (TGDS) and post-test after their course of chemotherapy with four times of measurement. Data were analyzed using SPSS software through analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Chi-square tests and the descriptive statistic. The final sample consisted of 105 participants which were 51 older adults in the music group and 54 in the control group. The results were shown that a repeated measures ANOVA revealed a significant difference between groups on QOL score and depression score. The increasing of QOL score and the decreasing of depression score were significantly for those subjects who received music intervention than those subjects in the control group (P<.05). The music intervention (Listening Music) with an appropriate selection in the type of music preference, the right volume, and other influencing factors is required for desired consequences of music in promoting quality of life and well-being of older adults.