Childhood Cancer Paper

Childhood cancer is the number one disease killer in children. Cancer kills more children than any other disease. Over 2,300 children with cancer die each year (Ibackjack, 2013, p.1). Cancer causes pain, stress, anxiety and many more physical behaviors, but how can music therapy affect those behaviors? This paper will demonstrate the physical effects cancer has on children and how music therapy can promote improvement in these areas.

When a child is first diagnosed with cancer, their whole life changes, as does the life of their family. Depending on what stage the cancer is, the child might be forced to change their whole lifestyle. In the article “The Development of a Music Therapy Assessment Tool for Hospitalized Children”, it states

that children develop rapidly during there early childhood that would be why a child might need to be hospitalized so they can have the best form of treatment (Douglass, 2006). Once a child is diagnosed, the first physical effect they might experience is anxiety. The child has anxiety about the cancer in itself. They fear the treatments, the pain and the possible outcome of being death. Their families fear for the child’s life and begin to feel the same amount of anxiety as the child does.
In the article “Music Therapy and Childhood Cancer: Goals, Methods, Patient Choice and Control During Diagnosis, Intensive Treatment, Transplant and Palliative Care
”, Daveson talks about the diagnosis being the most stressful experience for a child and their family. During that phase, a music therapist was asked to come in and give a session to see if the child’s levels of anxiety would improve. During the session, the patient engaged in the familiar song selections. Each song evoked a different memory of fun for the child and brought them to a safe place in their life. “As the session continued, the patient's level of anxiety appeared to reduce as indicated by an observable decrease in muscular tension, an increase in eye contact, and an increase in the frequency of spontaneous verbal responses”(Daveson, p.116). This article suggests that music therapy will help alleviate the anxiety of the patient by promoting eye contact, increasing verbal response and decreasing muscle tension.
The treatments for children with cancer can cause many anxieties, stresses and fears. Depending on the treatments and condition of the cancer, each patient will have a different form of treatment. Chemotherapy is a popular form of treatment for cancer patients. According to the article "Coping Strategies Used by Hospitalized Children with Cancer Undergoing Chemotherapy", children in hospitals with cancer develop different coping strategies to minimize the impact of chemotherapy. “The identified strategies were: understanding the need for chemotherapy; finding relief for the chemotherapy’s side effects and pain; seeking pleasure in nourishment; engaging in entertaining activities and having fun; and keeping the hope of cure alive and finding support in religion”(Sposito, 2015). Music therapy allows a child to forget about their daily treatments and have fun in the moment. Songs of religion sung in the session can support religious faith.
Two of the main side effects of chemotherapy are nausea and vomiting. The article “Clinical Applications of Music and Chemotherapy: The Effects on Nausea and Emesis”, stated that the data collected and analyzed showed that both music therapy groups reported to have less nausea when having music therapy than those who were in the non music groups. It also stated that music therapy helps to reduce the levels of anxiety for the patients. Music therapy has shown to have a positive impact on these clients undergoing chemo. It has shown that it can improve the levels of anxiety and decrease nausea and vomiting.
In the study “Effects of Music Therapy and Guided Visual Imagery on Chemotherapy-Induced Anxiety and Nausea–vomiting”, it’s hypothesis aimed to see if music therapy and visual imagery could reduce anxiety, nausea and vomiting for those under chemotherapy. The findings of the study stated that music therapy and visual imagery did affect the levels of chemotherapy. “Music therapy and visual imagery reduced the severity and duration of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting significantly. In our research, 40% of the patients did not have anticipatory nausea and 55% of the patients did not have anticipatory vomiting during the third chemotherapy cycle during which music therapy and guided visual imagery were implemented”(Karagozoglu, 2013). The article “The Effects of Music Therapy on Motivation, Psychological Well-Being, Physical Comfort, and Exercise Endurance of Bone Marrow Transplant Patients”, also stated how guided imagery and music showed a significant reduction for cancer patient vomiting. Furthermore cancer patients who used music, found it to be more effective in alleviating anxiety.
Another form of treatment for cancer patients would be an alternative method. The article “Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Children with Cancer: A Study at a Swiss University Hospital”, states CAM, Complementary and Alternative Medicine is frequently used for children with cancer. “Among CAM users, the most common methods applied after diagnosis were classical homeopathy (54%), dietary supplements (31%), prayer/faith (30%), and over-the-counter homeopathy (27%)(p5)” “CAM methods were grouped into six categories for this analysis: medicaments and remedies (e.g., homeopathy, traditional Chinese medicine, Ayurveda); regulatory therapies (e.g., acupuncture, shiatsu); nutrition (e.g., dietary supplements, juice diet); mind-body therapies (e.g., yoga, music therapy); manual therapies (e.g., massages, chiropractic); and other therapies (i.e., bio resonance therapy, electromagnetic therapy)” (Magi, 2015). Using alternative methods could be beneficial to a child with cancer because there could be fewer side effects and less anxiety.
In the US over 12,000 children are faced with different levels of stress depending on their diagnosis and treatments for their cancer.

The article “Children and Adolescents Coping With Cancer: Self- and Parent Reports of Coping and Anxiety/Depression” (Compas, 2014) states the significance in anxiety and stress for cancer children patients. In each article I have read so far one of the main things it states is how stressful the experience of cancer can be and how high the levels of anxiety can be for the patients. “Studies conducted with cancer patients using music have found it to be effective in alleviating anxiety”(Boldt, p. 166). Music can be a true benefit for patients suffering from cancer. Maru Barrera (2002) stated in the article music therapy is likely to enhance coping and can provide physical and emotional comfort for patients with life-threating disease such as cancer (Barrera 2002). In the study by Susan Boldt (1996) it states that music could have a positive effect on children suffering from

cancer.
In the article “Posttraumatic Stress and Attentional Bias towards Cancer-Related Stimuli in Parents of Children Recently Diagnosed with Cancer”, its methods consisted of taking a survey of patients who have cancer by measuring their levels of Posttraumatic Stress, depression and anxiety. For the results of the study it stated that the patients were split into two groups, High and Low PTSS. There was no difference between the groups in terms of characteristics, but those that were among the High PTSS group showed to have higher levels of PTSS, depression and anxiety. Anxiety, stress and depression can affect a child once they are diagnosed, but music therapy can help with those feelings. Music therapy for a child can improve their moods, well-being, engagement and interaction with others, and music therapy can help a child feel secure (O'callaghan, 2013).
The article “Music's Relevance for Children With Cancer: Music Therapists' Qualitative Clinical Data-Mining Research”, states how music provides a security to children and how it can give them opportunities to make choices. It can help a child feel reassured in their life and give them an ability to communicate through a different way. “Music therapist creates opportunities for an unfolding therapeutic process that helps children cope with illness through engagement, creativity, and play. Connecting with previous positive familiar music experiences support the children and families, and offer hope for further normality. Music therapy can enable catharsis, self-expression, diversion, distraction from symptoms, and invasive procedures, aesthetic experience, a sense of achievement, important communication, and, very importantly, humor”(O'callaghan, 2013). Music therapy can help a child-suffering feel alive again. Their treatments and illness takes so much out of them, but music therapy can give back to those children to help them forget they are sick and to feel normal for the time being.
Pain is a part of cancer that can’t be controlled. Each person who has cancer is faced with different levels of pain and each person handles pain differently. In the study “The Impact of Cognitive Interventions in Reducing Intensity of Pain and Distress, and Improving Quality of Life of Children With Cancer”, it states that the study was aiming to use cognitive interventions to prepare children and parents on what to expect from the cancer. It helps to show parents and children how the interventions will be able to help and what exactly they will need to do. The interventions will also help in distracting the children who are suffering with intense pain and stresses helping them forget for the time being. The study's results showed the cognitive interventions helped to prepare the children and their parents and that it the children’s pain reduced and their quality of life increased.
In the study by Catherine De Mers (2009), results supported the effectiveness of music therapy on social, communicative, and behavioral skills. The study showed that music interventions could have a positive effect on a child’s behavior and well-being. The article by Cynthia Colwell (2005) stated that song writing is one of the more popular interventions that are used with children in hospitals. She said that the four types of song writing interventions contained, fill-in-the-blank, group writing, improvisation, and discharge songs. “Song-writing and composition techniques have been used to help patients express emotions about relationships, separation issues, concerns about their illnesses and in preparation for invasive procedures”(Colwell, p.52). The article “A Reflection on the Music Therapist's Role in Developing a Program in a Children's Hospital”, stated that the music therapist could have an effective role in decreasing pain in patients (Edwards, 2005).
Family is a big part of cancer patients’ healing processes. In the study “Parents and Young Children with Disabilities: The Effects of a Home-Based Music Therapy Program on Parent-Child Interactions” it states, “A family-centered approach is one of the core concepts in early intervention services, and researchers have suggested that family-centered early interventions can strengthen parents’ self-efficacy and increase their feelings of empowerment”(Yang, 2015). Bringing the family in is a major part of healing and coping for a child with cancer. Knowing they have support and love is what will help them overcome their fears and fight the cancer. Knowing that music can help bring a child and their families closer together gives people hope.
Music can help strengthen the bond between a family and child.

Stated in the article “Early Intervention Music Therapy: Reporting on a 3-Year Project To Address Needs with At-Risk Families”, “Music has long been associated with parent-child interactions and bonding. The act of singing is one of the earliest and most common forms of musical interaction, shared between a parent and child. Music used by families in an interactive way within a group setting can support participants in developing skills that enhance parent-child relationships”(Abad, 2007). Since music therapy can help a child with developmental skills bond with parents, and help with interaction, it can help a child develop a strong relationship with their family members, which is a part that will help a child heal with cancer.

For cancer patients, it is very important for them to have the support and love from their family’s but it also important to have support from the music therapist. The article by Noah Potvin (2015) stated that the music therapist was able establish a trust and secureness between the child and themselves. They felt the therapist care about them and cared how the music was affecting their wellbeing. The patients felt the music therapy sessions helped to keep them relaxed, increased pain management and helped with

coping.
Music therapy helps give a child a new outlook on life. It helps bring them hope and makes them feel they have a meaning to life. Music therapy can give a child different ways of expressing themselves and to help them believe in themselves. “The process of making music, or music play, affords children opportunities to master new environments, express themselves through a non-threatening medium, assert independence, and experience supportive relationships”. “Music provides order and predictability, fostering feelings of security in children. This security enables children to reengage with their environment during times of distress. Music therapists reference three aspects of music interventions that create safe, predictable environments where children can master their fears and experience success: the natural structure of music, the ordering of session activities, and the client-therapist relationship” (Robb, 2003).
Music therapy can help to reduce stress for a child with cancer. It can help a child undergoing different treatment procedures. Music therapy can reduce the pain a child feels as a result of having cancer. Music therapy can help build a support system with the child and their families. This paper demonstrated the physical effects cancer had on the children suffering from it and how music therapy can improve a child facing cancer.