Trial reportBMC palliative care2018
A randomised controlled pilot and feasibility study of music therapy for improving the quality of life of hospice inpatients.
Trial report in BMC palliative care, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT02791048 (Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Music Therapy in Improving the Quality of Life of Palliative Care Patients), which is not on this map. Cited by 10 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Music Therapy in Improving the Quality of Life of Palliative Care Patients: a Randomised Controlled Pilot and Feasibility Study
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Music therapy for supporting informal carers of adults with life-threatening illness pre- and post-bereavement; a mixed-methods systematic review.BMC palliative care · 2024Pooled it
- Music interventions for improving psychological and physical outcomes in people with cancer.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021Pooled it
- The effects of art therapy on anxiety, depression, and quality of life in adults with cancer: a systematic literature review.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2021Pooled it
- Music Therapy in the Psychosocial Treatment of Adult Cancer Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in psychology · 2020Pooled it
- "Song of Life": Results of a multicenter randomized trial on the effects of biographical music therapy in palliative care.Palliative medicine · 2021Trial
- Toward precision music medicine in oncology care: reproducible, scalable and biomarker-driven interventions.EClinicalMedicine · 2026Review
- Single-session music therapy reduces anxiety and depression among hospitalized adults in an endocrinology ward.Clinics (Sao Paulo, Brazil) · 2026Article
- Education and Music Intervention to Reduce Anxiety: feasibility, potential efficacy, and patient satisfaction in a pilot study.Pilot and feasibility studies · 2025Article
- TheContemporary clinical trials communications · 2024Article
- Developing a best-practice agenda for music therapy research to support informal carers of terminally ill patients pre- and post-death bereavement: a world café approach.BMC palliative care · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundEvidence about the effectiveness of music therapy for improving the quality of life of palliative care patients is positive but weak in terms of risk of bias.
methodsThis study aimed to determine the feasibility of a randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of music therapy for improving the quality of life of hospice inpatients, as measured by the McGill Quality of Life questionnaire. Objectives included recruitment of 52 participants over 12 months and provision of data to support the calculation of the required sample size for a definitive randomised trial, taking into account the retention rates of recruited participants; and evaluation of the viability of the intervention and the acceptability of the assessment tool. The design was a single-centre, researcher-blinded randomised pilot and feasibility study involving two parallel groups. Participants were recruited from one inpatient hospice unit in Northern Ireland. Eligibility criteria were an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of two or lower and an Abbreviated Mental Test score of seven or more. Consenting patients were randomly allocated to the intervention or control group using a 1:1 allocation ratio. The intervention group received up to six individual music therapy sessions over 3 weeks in addition to usual care. The control group received usual care only.
resultsFifty one participants were recruited over 12 months. Twenty five were allocated to the intervention group and 26 to the control group. Seventy one percent of participants were lost to follow up by week 3, the proposed primary endpoint. The primary endpoint was moved from week 3, when 71% were lost to follow up to week 1, when 33% were lost. The McGill Quality of Life questionnaire was generally acceptable to participants. In order to detect a small to moderate effect size of 0.3, a fully powered study would require the recruitment of 698 participants.
conclusionsA Phase III randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of music therapy in improving the quality of life of hospice inpatients is feasible.
trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02791048 . Registered 6 June 2016.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.