Table 3.
Characteristics of the studies used in this scoping review.
| Author and Year | Participants | Type of cancer | Location of the interventions | Outcome Measures | Interventions/Techniques | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barrera et al., 2002 [24] | 65 children and adolescents with cancer aged between 6 months and 17 years (6 m–5 y: 33; 6–10 y: 16; 11–17 y: 16). | Leukaemias, brain tumours, osteogenic sarcoma lymphoma, Ewing’s sarcoma, and neuroblastoma. | The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada. | FACES PPS PSQ CSQ SSQ The Likert scale was used for the PSQ and SSQ. |
MT sessions lasting 45 minutes for 4 to 6 weeks. Music listening, singing, songwriting, improvisation, instrument playing (e.g. bells, drums, pentatonic tone bars, and shakers, among others). No control group. | |
| Barry et al., 2010 [32] | 11 children with cancer aged from 6 to 13 years. Outpatient radiotherapy treatment. MT group: 5; standard group: 6. |
Brain, kidney, bone soft tissue cancers, and leukaemia. | Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Australia. |
Three phases: pre-treatment, treatment, and post-treatment. Demographic analysis, paediatric interview (kidcope), and parent and staff questionnaire. | MT waiting room sessions lasting 10–90 minutes and 20–90 minutes in the treatment room. MT group: musical creations through software which were later recorded on a CD. Standard group: standard treatment. | |
| Bufalini, 2009 [42] | 39 children with cancer aged 2–12 years and undergoing painful treatment. MT group: 20; control group: 19. | Acute lymphatic leukaemia, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, neuroblastoma, osteosarcoma, and medulloblastoma. | Unknown | m-YPAS ICC Scale of emotion, activity, and sociability. Inventory cataloguing the range status in parents with anxiety. Degree of satisfaction of children, parents, and staff with the Barrera questionnaire. |
1 MT session. MT group: listening to lullabies, children’s songs, and classical music, among others for 15 minutes. Active music: small percussion instruments, vocals, and body percussion for an unspecified time. Control group: conscious sedation alone. |
|
| Burns et al., 2009 [56] | 12 participants with cancer aged 11–24 years. Randomised to the music group: 7; randomised to control group: 5; analysed in the music group: 7; analysed in the control group: 2. | Unknown | Unknown | STAIC MOS SDS HHI RSPS IWB Mental Health Scale Child Health Questionnaire. Bodily Pain Scale Child Health Questionnaire. Jalowiec Coping Scale-Revised. Haase Adolescent Resilience in Cancer Scale. Reed Self-Transcendence Scale. Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale. Nowotny Confidence Subscale. LASA Uniscale. |
6 MT sessions, lasting 45 to 60 minutes. MT group: created a TMV. Control group: listened to audiobooks. | |
| Burns et al., 2010 [57] | 4 mothers and 3 fathers of 6 patients with cancer aged 13–21 years and undergoing a stem cell transplant. | Unknown | In the hospital and/or home of the patient. | Parental interviews were conducted 100 days after the transplantation and lasted between 30 minutes and 90 minutes. Broad range of questions to generate data. Follow-up questions during the interview. | 6 MT sessions; created a TMV. | |
| del Cabral-Gallo et al., 2014 [48] | Children and adolescents with cancer aged 6–18 years and undergoing chemotherapy, along with their caregivers. Patients: MT group and control group: 56. Caregivers: MT group and control group: 64. |
Unknown | Civil Hospital of Guadalajara Mexico. |
Pre and post-intervention measurements. C-MAS-R HAS |
MT session lasting a mean of 18 minutes. MT groups: listened to classic, folk, instrumental, and medieval music. Control groups: no music. | |
| Docherty et al., 2013 [61] | 16 parents of adolescents and young adults with cancer undergoing stem cell transplantation. | Unknown | Unknown | Semi structured open-ended interview lasting 20 to 60 minutes, performed 100 to 160 days after the transplant. The script included the experiences of the parents regarding participation with their children in the MT. | 6 MT sessions; created a TMV. | |
| Giordano et al., 2020 [43] | 48 children aged 2–13 years with cancer and undergoing invasive procedures, along with their parents. MT group: 29. Standard group: 19. | Leukaemia | Polyclinic Hospital of Bari, Italy. | m-YPAS, in the waiting room on the day of the procedure and in the operating room. Questionnaire edited by Zanchi and Acler for the medical staff | 6 MT sessions lasting 15 to 20 minutes. Method taken from the Free Improvisation Therapy model. MT group: instrument playing, improvisation, singing, and music listening. Standard group: standard treatment. |
|
| Haase et al., 2020 [58] | 14 cancer patients aged 13–22 years and undergoing stem cell transplantation. | Unknown | Unknown | Semi-structured interviews lasting 4 to 24 minutes. Broad initial question to generate data. Questions for deeper reflections asked during the interview. | MT group: created a TMV. Control group: listened to audiobooks. |
|
| Kemper et al., 2008 [49] | 63 children and adolescents (ambulatory) with cancer aged up to 17 years. | Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and myelogenous leukaemia. | Brenner Children’s Hospital, Winston- Salem, North Carolina, USA. | In both visits the parents completed the VAS before and after the MT. Patients’ heart rates were monitored during the treatments to calculate their HRV. |
Visit 1: patients rested for 20 minutes. Visit 2: listening to Heart Zones music by Doc Childre for 20 minutes. No control group. |
|
| Nguyen et al., 2010 [44] | 40 children with cancer aged 7–12 years and subjected to a lumbar puncture. Music group: 20; control group: 20. | Leukaemia | National Paediatric Hospital, Hanoi, Vietnam | STAI, scores before and after the procedure. NRS, HR, BP, RR, and SpO2 were recorded throughout the procedure with the children listening or not listening to music according to their groups. Interview with three open questions. |
1 MT session lasting an average of 23 minutes. Music group: music listening with headphones (children’s and Vietnamese songs). Control group: headphones without music. | |
| O’Callaghan et al., 2007 [45] | 39 outpatient children with cancer aged up to 14 years and receiving radiotherapy, along with 63 families and friends. | Brain tumours, sarcomas, neuroblastoma, and leukaemia. | Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. |
Individual case reports. | 85 MT sessions lasting an average of 30 minutes. Sessions while waiting and during the treatment. Instrument playing (e.g. synthesiser, autoharp, guitar, and percussion instruments). Songwriting, singing, and improvisation, among others. |
|
| O’Callaghan et al., 2011 [46] | 26 children with cancer aged up to 14 years along with their parents. | Leukaemias, lymphomas, neuronal and non-neuronal solid tumours. | Three hospitals in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. |
Semi-structured interviews lasting an average of 16 minutes were conducted with 26 patients and 28 parents. | Singing, instrument playing, music listening, and DVD creation, among others. | |
| O’Callaghan et al., 2012 [27] | 12 cancer patients aged 12–25 years. | Sarcomas, solid tumours, leukaemia, melanoma, pineal germinoma, and metastatic disease. | Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. |
Semi-structured interviews lasting an average of 57 minutes were conducted. | Music listening, singing, songwriting, dancing, and instrument playing, among others. | |
| O’Callaghan et al., 2013 [28] | 32 children and adolescents with cancer aged 2–18 years. | Unknown | Three Hospitals in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. |
Four music therapists that had worked with the patients were interviewed. | Music listening, songwriting, singing, and instrument playing, among others. | |
| Polat et al., 2015 [50] | 28 children and adolescents with cancer aged 5–15 years and undergoing chemotherapy. Pre-test and post-test single-group design. | Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. | Turkey University Hospital. | VAS at the beginning and end of the intervention. Questions for mothers and children. |
MT sessions lasting 15 to 30 minutes. MT group: listening to songs from The Four Seasons. No control group. |
|
| Robb et al., 2003a [51] |
6 children and adolescents with cancer aged 9–17 years and undergoing bone marrow transplantation. Music group: 3. Group without music: 3. | Peripheral T-cell lymphoma, desmoplastic small cell tumour, acute lymphocytic leukaemia, Ewing’s sarcoma, and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. | Children’s Mercy Hospital, Kansas City Missouri, USA. |
STAIC CDI |
Contextual Support Model of MT (Robb). 6 MT sessions. Music group: created a TMV. Group without music: preferred activity of the patients. | |
| Robb et al, 2003b [52] |
6 children and adolescents with cancer aged 9–17 years and undergoing bone marrow transplantation. Music group: 3. Group without music: 3. | Peripheral T-cell lymphoma, desmoplastic small cell tumour, acute lymphocytic leukaemia, Ewing’s sarcoma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and acute myelogenous leukaemia. | Children’s Mercy Hospital, Kansas City Missouri, USA. |
STAIC CDI |
Contextual Support Model of MT (Robb). 6 MT sessions. Music group: created a TMV. Group without music: preferred activity of the patients. |
|
| Robb et al., 2008 [26] | 83 children with cancer aged 4–7 years. Experimental group (AME): 27; control group (LM): 28; control group (ABS): 28. | Unknown | Mercy Hospitals and Clinics, MO. State Milton Medical Centre S. Hershey, Hershey, PA. Rainbow Hospital for Babies and Children Cleveland, OH. Children’s Hospital University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA. Riley Hospital for Children, Indianapolis, IN. |
Average frequency estimates were calculated for three behaviours related to coping: positive facial effect, active commitment, and initiation. | 1 MT session lasting 30 minutes. Experimental group (AME): instrument playing, and singing, among others. Control group (LM): music listening for children. Control group (ABS): 2 picture books for children with audio narration. |
|
| Robb et al., 2014 [59] | 113 patients aged 11–24 years with cancer undergoing a stem cell transplantation. Music group: 59; control group: 54. | Leukaemia, lymphoma, and solid tumours. | Riley Children’s Hospital and Indiana University Hospital Indianapolis, IN. Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics Kansas City, MO. Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta/Emory University Atlanta, GA. Methodist Children’s Hospital and Texas Transplant Institute of San Antonio, TX. St. Louis Children’s Hospital and Barnes-Jewish. |
Intervention and 100 days post-transplantation. RIM McCorkle Distress Symptom Scale. Mishel Uncertainty in Illness Scale. Jalowiec Coping Scale-Revised. Reed Spiritual Perspective Scale. Perceived Social Support-Health Care Providers. Perceived Social Support-Friends. Perceived Social Support-Family. Family Adaptability/Cohesion Scale. Parent-Adolescent Communication Scale. |
6 MT sessions over three weeks. Contextual Support Model of MT (Robb). MT Group: created a TMV. Control group (ABS): listened to the patient’s choice of audiobook from among 15 options. | |
| Hospital St. Louis, MO. Duke Children’s Hospital, Durham, NC. Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, Grand Rapids, MI. C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, Ann Arbor, MI. |
Family Strengths Scale. Herth Hope Index. Reed Self-Transcendence Scale. Haase Resilience in Illness Scale. |
|||||
| Robb et al., 2017 [47] | 16 children with cancer aged 3–8 years and 12 parents. AME+P group: 9; ABS control group: 7. | Leukaemia and tumours. | Riley Hospital for Children, Indiana, USA. | AME Parent Delivery Checklist. Positive Facial Affect. Child Engagement. Facial Affect. POM-SF IES-R Scores for positive side effects and active engagement. Interviews with parents to evaluate the AME+P 30 days after the intervention. |
3 MT sessions lasting 45 minutes (AME+P) or 35 minutes (attention control). Contextual Support Model of MT (Robb). AME+P group: music play kit. ABS control group: listened to audiobooks. |
|
| Saghaee-Shahriari et al., 2019 [60] | 30 adolescents with cancer. Ages not specified. MT group: 15; control group: 15. | Leukaemias | Health centres in Tehran, Iran. |
ASI General Self-Efficacy Scale. |
14 MT sessions lasting 90 minutes. | |
| Sepúlveda-Vildósola et al., 2014 [53] | 22 children and adolescents with cancer aged: 8–16 years. | Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, and acute myeloid leukaemia. | Paediatric Hospital at the XXI Century National Medical Centre, Mexican Social Security Institute. | Visual analogue numerical scale, first without MT and later with the MT. | MT session involving listening to the music of J. Thompson, lasting an average of 20 minutes for 2 months. | |
| Hodgkin’s disease, tonsillar lymphoma, osteosarcoma, histiocytosis, primitive neuroectodermal tumour, and rhabdomyosarcoma. | Mexico | |||||
| Uggla et al., 2016 [29] | 24 children and adolescents with cancer aged up to 16 years and undergoing stem cell transplantation. MT group: 13 (1 dropout); control group: 11 (2 dropouts). | Acute myeloid leukaemia, acute lymphatic leukaemia, myelodysplastic syndrome, and non-malignant | University Hospital Karolinska-Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden. | Measurements of the heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygen saturation; normal scanning protocols between 7 and 8 in the morning and 6 and 8 in the afternoon. | MT sessions lasting 45 minutes twice a week for a mean of 4 to 6 weeks. The MT method originated from two models: the Nordoff–Robbins Creative MT and Juliette Alvin’s Free Improvisation Therapy. MT group: singing, instrument playing, and music listening. Control group: standard treatment. |
|
| Uggla et al., 2018 [55] | 29 children and adolescents with cancer aged from 2 months to 17 years and undergoing a stem cell transplantation. MT group: 14; control group: 15. | Acute myeloid leukaemia, acute lymphatic leukaemia, myelodysplastic syndrome, and non- malignant |
University Hospital Karolinska-Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden. | Paediatric quality of life inventory 4.0 (generic basic scale PedsQL 4.0). Inventory 3.0 cancer module (PedsQL 3.0 cancer module). The research nurse subjectively documented the patient mood on a five-point scale. Three-point Likert scale. |
MT sessions lasting 45 minutes twice a week for an average of 4 to 6 weeks. MT group: singing, instrument playing, and music listening. Children aged under 18 months interacted with their parents, commitment based on body language. |
|
| Five-point Likert scale. Astrid Lindgren Pain Scale. Visual Analogue Pain Scale. Lansky Gaming Performance Scale. |
Control group: standard treatment. | |||||
| Uggla et al., 2019 [30] | 6 children and adolescents with cancer aged 1–18 years and undergoing a stem cell transplant, along with 6 family groups. | Unknown | University Hospital Karolinska-Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden. | Collaborative research MT interview and the child-parent interview, 7–13 months after the transplantation lasting 45–60 minutes. | Singing, improvisation, instrument playing, and songwriting, among others. | |
AME: active music engagement; AME+P: parent-delivered active music engagement; ASB: audio storybooks; ASI: Anxiety Sensitivity Index; BP: blood pressure; CD: compact disc; CDI: Children’s Depression Inventory; C-MAS-R: Manifest Anxiety Scale in Children-Revised; CSQ: questionnaires to children; DVDs: digital versatile disc; FACES: Faces Pain Scale; HAS: Hamilton Anxiety Scale; HHI: Herth Hope Index; HR: heart rate; HRV, heart rate variability; ICC: Induction Completion List; IES-R: Impact of Events Scale-Revised; IWB: Index of Well-Being; ML: music listening; MOS: Short-Form Health Survey-Medical Outcomes Study; MT: music therapy; m-YPAS: Modified Yale Pre-operative Anxiety Scale; NRS: Numeric Rating Scale; POMS-SF: Profile of Mood States-Short Form; PPS: Play-Performance Scale; PSQ: Satisfaction Questionnaires Completed by Parents; RIM: Disease Resistance Model; RR: respiratory rate; RSPS: Reed Spiritual Perspective Scale; SDS: McCorkle Symptom Distress Scale; SpO2: oxygen saturation; SSQ: questionnaires to staff; STAI: Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory; STAIC: State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children; TMV: therapeutic music video; VAS: Visual Analog Scale.