The paper entitled “The Effects of Music Therapy on the Quality and Length of Life of People Diagnosed with Terminal Cancer” by Russell E. Hilliard discussed an experiment conducted to observe the effect music therapy has on patients diagnosed with terminal cancer. In this experiment, all the subjects were diagnosed with various kinds of terminal cancer by at least two doctors and were only expected to live for an additional 6 (some less) months. All the participants were newly admitted to the Big Bend Hospice, they were all adults, and they all lived at home. These individuals were about 65 years old. Because they were not exactly the same age, they were divided evenly between the experimental and control group. In addition, the same held true for the gender of the participants; there was an equal amount of males and females evenly distributed between the two groups. However, the race was not controlled. The participants gave their consent and the experiment began.
In the control group, there were 40 participants who only received routine hospice services, while the 40 individuals in the experimental group received routine hospice services in addition to at least two music therapy sessions. The independent variables (the ones manipulated) were music therapy and routine hospice services. The dependent variables were quality of life, length of life (recorded in number of days), and relationship to time of death (in days) from the last visit of the music therapist. The null hypothesis was that there would not be a difference observed between the experimental ad control groups in relation to their quality of life, length of life, and relationship to time of death from the last visit of the music therapist.
The first tool was the Hospice Quality of Life Index-Revised (HQLI-R). The way this worked was that the participants filled out a questionnaire after the music therapy session (for participants in the experimental group) to relay their quality of life. The questions asked fell under three main categories: functional (daily enjoyable activities), psychophysiological (anger, pain), and social/spiritual. The higher the score they received, the better their quality of life. The second tool was the Palliance Performance Scale (PPS) used to measure the physical stature of the patients. This tool takes several factors into account, including intake, activity, ambulation etc. If the patient receives 0%, that is ranked as death, and 100%, ranked as normal activity and full ambulation. Between these two extremes there were 10% intervals to show any physical stature in between. The PPS was completed during all nursing visits. The final tool was the length of time which was measured by recording the dates necessary.
Results:
All participants had a chance to complete the HQLI-R at least twice and therefore the first two were the ones studied. The results showed that the quality of life for those receiving music therapy was higher than those who were not. In addition, for those who were in the control group, their quality if life lessened from the first to the second assessment. The first two scores of PPS were used as well. The results indicated that music therapy positively influences the patients quality of life even when death seems to be approaching. However, how long they lived was not effected by music therapy neither was there a relationship between time of death and therapists last visit.
From the results, it is clear that the use of music therapy in a hospice care improved the quality of life of those who were diagnosed with terminal cancer. The scores measuring the patients quality of life showed an obvious increase for those receiving music therapy, while the individuals in the control group actually had lower scores following counselor’s visits. The results and data provided are a clear indication that music therapy is beneficial for those diagnosed with terminal cancer.
