Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2015 Nov 13;112(46):788-94.
doi: 10.3238/arztebl.2015.0788.

Music Therapy in Palliative Care

Marco Warth  1 , Jens Keßler, Thomas K Hillecke, Hubert J Bardenheuer
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Music Therapy in Palliative Care

Marco Warth et al. Dtsch Arztebl Int. .

Abstract

Background: Music therapy has been used successfully for over 30 years as part of palliative care programs for severely ill patients. There is nonetheless a lack of high-quality studies that would enable an evidence-based evaluation of its psychological and physiological effects.

Methods: In a randomized controlled trial, 84 hospitalized patients in palliative care were assigned to one of two treatment arms--music therapy and control. The music therapy intervention consisted of two sessions of live music-based relaxation exercises; the patients in the control group listened to a verbal relaxation exercise. The primary endpoints were self-ratings of relaxation, well-being, and acute pain, assessed using visual analog scales. Heart rate variability and health-related quality of life were considered as secondary outcomes. The primary data analysis was performed according to the intention-to-treat principle.

Results: Analyses of covariance revealed that music therapy was more effective than the control treatment at promoting relaxation (F = 13.7; p <0.001) and well-being (F = 6.41; p = 0.01). This effect was supported by a significantly greater increase in high-frequency oscillations of the heart rate (F = 8.13; p = 0.01). Music therapy did not differ from control treatment with respect to pain reduction (F = 0.4; p = 0.53), but it led to a significantly greater reduction in the fatigue score on the quality-of-life scale (F = 4.74; p = 0.03).

Conclusion: Music therapy is an effective treatment with a low dropout rate for the promotion of relaxation and well-being in terminally ill persons undergoing palliative care.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Box-and-whisker plots showing changes in VAS (before and after) middle line (bold), median; colored rectangle, 25th to 75th percentile; whiskers, upper/lower quartile; points, outliers; asterisks, extremes. MT, music therapy; CG, control group; VAS, visual analog scale
Figure 2
Figure 2
Box-and-whisker plots showing changes in physiological data middle line (bold), median; colored rectangle, 25th to 75th percentile; whiskers, upper/lower quartile; points, outliers; asterisks, extremes. HRV, Heart rate variability; MT, music therapy; CG, control group; HF, power in high-frequency spectrum (autoregressive); BVP-A, blood volume pulse amplitude
eFigure 1
eFigure 1
Study design VAS, visual analog scale; HRV, heart rate variability, T, time
eFigure 2
eFigure 2
Music therapy session involving a monochord
eFigure 3
eFigure 3
Session procedure EG, experimental group; CG, control group; VAS, visual analog scale; HRV, heart rate variability
eFigure 4
eFigure 4
Patient flow
eFigure 5
eFigure 5
Box-and-whisker plots showing changes in quality of life (before and after) middle line (bold), median; colored rectangle,25th to 75th percentile; whiskers, upper/lower quartile; points, outliers; asterisks, extremes. MT, music therapy; CG, control group; QL, overall quality of life; FA, fatigue
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

References

    1. Munro S, Mount B. Music therapy in palliative care. Can Med Assoc J. 1978;119:1029–1034. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bradt J, Dileo C. WITHDRAWN: Music therapy for end-of-life care. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2014;3 CD007169. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Korczak D, Wastian M, Schneider M. Music therapy in palliative setting. GMS Health Technol Assess. 2013;9:1–6. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Deutsche Musiktherapeutische Gesellschaft. Definition. www.musiktherapie.de. (last accessed on 20 April 2015)
    1. Warth M, Platzbecker G, von Moreau D, Wormit AF. Musiktherapie. In: Anderheiden M, Eckart WU, editors. Handbuch Sterben und Menschenwürde. Berlin/Boston: DeGruyter; 2012. pp. 1151–1164.

Publication types