Music therapy and emotional expression during chemotherapy. How do breast cancer patients feel?

IntroductionPsychological distress, suffering and negative emotions are commonly experienced by breast cancer patients during the course of their illness. The present study aims to measure the efficacy of an integrative intervention of music therapy and emotional expression on lowering negative emotions in breast cancer patients during chemotherapy administration.MethodologySixty-two breast cancer patients were recruited in the outpatient Oncology Unit, and were randomly assigned to either the experimental or the control arms of the study.The experimental group (N = 31) received a single integrated intervention of music therapy and emotional expression in group format during the infusion of chemotherapy. The control group (N = 31) received standard psychosocial care. The “Emotion Thermometers tool” was administered before and after the intervention. This tool is a combination of visual scales which measure stress, anxiety, depression and anger. It also includes a “need for help” variable.ResultsThe experimental group had significant reductions in stress, anxiety, depression and anger (p < 0.05, Cohen's d > 50 for all variables). Anxiety and stress were reduced also in the control group, but the effect size was small (p < 0.05, Cohen's d < 50). Patients in the experimental group were more satisfied in their “need for help” than the control group (p < 0.001, Cohen's d > 80).DiscussionThe integrative intervention has been rated helpful by women with cancer and can be considered useful in lowering negative emotions during the administration of chemotherapy, in particular anger and depression. The limitations of this study and future research directions are discussed.