Emotions and Music: an Individual Music Therapy Intervention with Cancer Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy

This article presents the results of a qualitative research study exploring the role that music intervention plays in helping cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Music therapy sessions were administered and followed by a narrative discourse revealing the significance of this experience. The role that music plays in providing palliative support is examined through the reported perceptions of the meaning of the relationship between emotions and music of 25 cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy at an Institute that treats cancer patients in Northern Italy. A constructivist research approach with grounded theory design was applied. Data included transcripts from semi-structured research interviews and the results from the Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation (CORE). Interviews were conducted with the patients after the music therapy sessions. The results show that music intervention alleviates patients’ distress. Positive effects may carry over into the self-representation of the body by allowing the patient to manage the physical pain and to engage in anticipatory mourning due to the feeling they have of being between life and death.