Effect of Self-Chosen Music in Alleviating the Burden on Family Caregivers of Patients with Advanced Cancer: A Randomised Controlled Trial

• Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health Vol. 20; no. 5; p. 4662
• Main Authors: Valero-Cantero, Inmaculada, Casals, Cristina, Espinar-Toledo, Milagrosa, Barón-López, Francisco Javier, Martínez-Valero, Francisco Javier, García-Agua Soler, Nuria, Vázquez-Sánchez, María Ángeles
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 06.03.2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Cancer; Cancer patients; Care and treatment; Caregivers; Clinical trials; Emotions; Health aspects; Home Care Services; Humans; Intervention; Medicine; Music; Music therapy; Neoplasms - therapy; Palliation; Palliative care; Palliative treatment; Patients; Primary care; Quality of Life; Questionnaires; Sociodemographics; Spain; caregiver strain index; home care; music intervention; music medicine; complementary medicine; alternative medicine; caregiving; informal caregivers; palliative care; oncology
• ISSN: 1660-4601; 1661-7827; 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph20054662

The experience of caregiver burden among family members of patients with advanced cancer is a common problem. The aim of this study was to determine whether the burden may be alleviated by means of a therapeutic approach based on self-chosen music. This randomised controlled trial (ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04052074. Registered 9 August 2019) included 82 family caregivers of patients receiving home palliative care for advanced cancer. The intervention group ( = 41) listened to pre-recorded, self-chosen music for 30 min/day for seven consecutive days, while the control group ( = 41) listened to a recording of basic therapeutic education at the same frequency. The degree of burden was assessed by the Caregiver Strain Index (CSI), calculated before and after the seven-day intervention. According to this measure, caregiver burden fell significantly in the intervention group (CSI change: -0.56, SD 2.16) but increased in the control group (CSI change: +0.68, SD 1.47), with a significant group x moment interaction F(1, 80) = 9.30, = 0.003, η = 0.11. These results suggest that, in the short term at least, the use of therapy based on self-chosen music alleviates the burden on family caregivers of palliative cancer patients. Moreover, this therapy is easy to administer at home and does not present any problems in practice.