Comfort, Connection and Music: Experiences of Music Therapy and Inter-Active Listening on a Palliative Care Unit
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47513/mmd.v9i4.508Abstract
Music therapy in palliative care aims to provide psychosocial support, assistance with pain and symptom management and opportunities for life review and legacy work. Although there have been a variety of studies conducted on the effects of music therapy in palliative care facilities, there is a gap in research examining the experience and feasibility of music therapy on acute palliative care units within cancer care settings. This qualitative study explored the lived experience of inter-active listening (IAL), an individualized music therapy in which the therapist plays music or sings while the patient engages through listening, for nine inpatients on a palliative care unit. The study found that a receptive music therapy referred to as IAL was associated, in cancer patients in an acute palliative care unit, with increased emotional and spiritual well-being and a greater sense of connection to self and others. Further research into specific effects of various music therapy intervention styles is warranted.
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