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| A: Intervention Theory |
| In the past, MT has been used to offer help to children cancer to reduce their anxiety, improve their self-esteem and social relationships, and as a means of support to treat emotional factors related to their oncological treatment, among others |
| To date, very few studies have addressed the effects of MT on the expression of emotions in children with cancer. Therefore, in this work we carried out MT sessions with the aim of opening channels of communication and emotional expression. We explored our results to try to discover whether MT can help these patients express their emotions |
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| B: Intervention Content |
| Previous research has revealed that children with cancer should have access to their preference of music as well as materials for making music [39, 40]. In this work, both the music used for the singing and listening activities (musical pieces of pop, rock, classical, and deep house styles, among others), and the musical instruments for performing live music were selected by the patients |
| Live music was performed by both the patient and music therapist while an mp3 player and a speaker were used to play the recorded music. The volume was controlled by the music therapist and the level ranged between 30 and 50 dB (decibels) |
| Percussion instruments were used in the improvisation activities (djembe, drum, bongo, woodblock, claves, tambourines, and body percussion). A keyboard was also used. The main improvisation method used was free improvisation. In addition to interacting with the patient, the music therapist focused on sustaining the musical improvisations with the aim of welcoming musical improvisations by the patients so that they could have the possibility of freely expressing their emotions |
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| C: Intervention Delivery Schedule |
| A total of 65 sessions were held with a frequency of once a week between January and May, 2020, and November 2021 and February 2022; 27 sessions were conducted in patient rooms in the hospital, 17 sessions were carried out in the day hospital, and 21 sessions were implemented online; 16 patients received 2 sessions, and 11 received 3 sessions. Each session lasted between 30 and 45 minutes |
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| D: Interventionist |
| The interventions were conducted by a qualified music therapist (first author) with the collaboration of the second author |
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| E: Treatment Fidelity |
| Treatment adherence was guaranteed in every session because the protocols of each completed activity (singing, listening to music, musical improvisation, and playing musical instruments, among others) was correctly followed, adapting the session to each patient. After each session, the video recordings of the work were analysed to discover more about the details of the session. In addition, the music therapist that led the sessions has had a long professional career as a musician |
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| F: Setting |
| Because the sessions completed in the patients’ rooms were individual, they were sufficiently private. The ambient noise levels were low. The sessions that took place in the day hospital were also private because an additional room was requested in which we held the sessions |
| The sessions carried out online were also private and were well accepted by the patients and were adapted to the most appropriate time for the patient. We made some technical adaptations such as adjusting the delay when playing musical instruments online or altering the audio quality during the sessions. We used different platforms, software, and tools to facilitate these adaptations |
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| G: Unit of Delivery |
| All the sessions were carried out between the patient and the music therapist as individual sessions and the patient’s relatives were invited to participate whenever the patient wanted them to |
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| Robb SL, Carpenter JS, and Burns DS. Reporting guidelines for music-based interventions. J Health Psychol. 2011; 16(2):342-352. doi:10.1177/1359105310374781 [37] |
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