Background and Rationale

People who have cancer may find the physical, emotional, and social effects of the disease to be stressful. Distress has become increasingly recognized as a factor that can reduce the quality of life of cancer patients.  Those who are unable to manage their stress may have a poorer quality of life after cancer treatment. In contrast, people who are able to use effective coping strategies to deal with stress have been shown to have lower levels of depression, anxiety, and symptoms related to cancer and its treatment.

Music therapy has been extensively used for various conditions related to the mind. However, music preference is very subjective and often rendering music by a performer can be cumbersome, the publicly available music is not designed to cater to the specific needs of the listener or do not have the required calming and therapeutic benefits. Music by ‘echo care’ are engineered at frequencies to render calming effect, improve sleep, elevate mood and reduce stress & anxiety as the case may be. This study is to observe the health benefits of music on the quality of life of the patients.

General aim

The aim of this study is to observe the effects of music therapy  and standard care  in patients with  measured using the EORTC QLQ C30 scale, FACT G7 & HADS before and after the application of music/sound therapy

Primary objective (endpoint)

To evaluate the impact of  Music therapy “  on the Quality of life during chemotherapy. . 

Secondary objectives (endpoints)            

To evaluate the benefits of non-pharmacological, non-invasive, based intervention using echocare  music therapy on the anxiety levels and physiological parameters like blood pressure when patients undergo music therapy at start of chemotherapy, during chemotherapy and at the completion of chemotherapy      

Design  

The study will be conducted at Apollo Proton Cancer Centre at Chennai, India location. A sample size of 50 cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy in the day-care will be part of the study. The age range for this study will be 18 and above. The duration of this study will be for 2 to 3 months. 

Patient qualification for the study will be done by the attending consultant. The patients will be identified based on their fitment for music therapy which includes physical condition, patient & attendant’s consent and their English language comprehension.

Population

All Genders above the age of 18 undergoing cancer treatment at Apollo proton Chemotherapy Day Care centre

Statistical considerations

To be filled by Dr Pankaj