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The effect of two different types of music played to cancer patients during chemotherapy on anxiety, nausea, and satisfaction levels

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A Correspondence to this article was published on 02 April 2024

Abstract

Purpose

To investigate the effect of two different types of music on anxiety, nausea, and satisfaction levels in cancer patients receiving chemotherapy (CT) for the first time.

Methods

The study was conducted as a single-blind, pre-test, post-test, three-group randomized controlled trial in an outpatient CT unit between August 2022 and February 2023. A simple (computer-based) and stratified (age and gender) randomization method was used to assign 75 patients to the relaxing music group (RMG), Turkish classical music group (TCMG), and control group (CG) (n = 25 each). The primary outcome was the change in anxiety levels measured by Spielberger’s State Anxiety Inventory before (T0) and after (T1) CT session. Secondary outcomes were the change in the severity of nausea from T0 to T1 and the level of satisfaction at T1.

Results

The groups were similar in terms of baseline sociodemographic and health-related characteristics. Anxiety levels were lower than the baseline in RMG and TCMG in comparison to CG, and repeated measures analysis showed a significant group × time interaction (p = 0.001, F = 210.221, η2 = 0.745). Nausea severity increased from T0 to T1 for CG but decreased for RMG and TCMG with a significant group × time interaction (p = 0.001, F = 100.785, η2 = 0.583). The satisfaction level was significantly higher in TCMG than in CG and RMG (8.64 ± 0.95 vs. 7.88 ± 0.72, and 7.00 ± 0.70, respectively).

Conclusion

Music may be an effective non-pharmacologic option to relieve patients’ anxiety and nausea during first-time CT. Larger, multicenter studies evaluating the long-term effect of music are needed to confirm these findings.

Trial registration

clinicaltrials.gov (NCT05687838)/2022-13/18

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the patients who agreed to participate in this study and the CT nurses who contributed to the implementation of the study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Internal Medicine Nursing, Bursa Uludag University, 16059, Nilüfer, Bursa, Turkey

    Öznur Erbay Dallı, Derya Akça Doğan & Seda Pehlivan

  2. Faculty of Nursing, Department of Internal Medicine Nursing, Ege University, 35100, Bornova, İzmir, Turkey

    Yasemin Yıldırım

  3. Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medical Oncology, Bursa Uludag University, 16059, Nilüfer, Bursa, Turkey

    Türkkan Evrensel

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  1. Öznur Erbay Dallı
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, intervention, and data collection were performed by ÖED and DAD. The full manuscript was written by ÖED, DAD, SP, and YY, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Öznur Erbay Dallı.

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Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study was conducted according to the Declaration of Helsinki. Ethics committee approval was obtained from the Clinical Research Ethics Committee at Bursa Uludağ University School of Medicine (Decision number: 2022-13/18); other required permissions were granted by the institution where the study was conducted. Before baseline measurements and group assignments were done, each participant was informed about the study, and written informed consent for participation was obtained. Participation was voluntary. Participants had the right to leave the study at any time without affecting their treatment or services in any way. Patients’ privacy was protected by ensuring anonymity and withholding personal information throughout the research process. The study protocol was registered on ClinicalTrails.gov (Registration number: NCT05687838).

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Dallı, Ö.E., Doğan, D.A., Pehlivan, S. et al. The effect of two different types of music played to cancer patients during chemotherapy on anxiety, nausea, and satisfaction levels. Support Care Cancer 31, 710 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-023-08165-9

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