Music Intervention Can Improve Emotion in Cancer Patients during Disease Progression

Music has long been regarded to aid health and loss-adaptation, but effect of music intervention on cancer patients is not well-understood. The aims of this study are to summarize and describe the role of music before and after diagnosis. This review examines music intervention studies with randomized designs for patients with cancer published between 1991 and 2015 from three English- language databases and Chinese-language databases. Ten studies that met specific inclusion criteria were reviewed. Our review indicates that music intervention may have beneficial effects on emotion (anxiety/depression) in patients with cancer. More research is needed to ascertain the most optimal intervention methodology on which cancer populations or which treatment modalities are appropriate for such an intervention.