Resources & references

Board Certified music therapy program at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. Funded by Children's Miracle Network - Herskey. By manipulating the elements of a song, music therapists help control a patient's pain and anxiety, ease adjustment to the hospital setting and promote rehabilitation.

Watch how certified music therapist  Amy Smith supports children in a pediatric hospital setting, with specific examples from neonatal intensive care (NICU) and rehabilitation.

Presentation by Tanya Lavoie, certified music therapist, working at the Montreal Children's Hospital.

Watch how music therapy is provided in a pediatric hospital setting to work on a variety of goals with children with diverse needs.

See how music therapy is used in a pediatric hospital setting. Goals discussed include tolerance of medical procedures, pain and anxiety management, and stabilization of vital signs.

This research article evaluated how music therapy can help children, teenagers, and young adults with cancer and blood disorders. It determined that music therapy is highly beneficial to have in an interdisciplinary team to manage symptoms and provide psychosocial care. 

This article examines the therapeutic benefits of music therapy for palliative care patients experiencing physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual distress. Findings suggest that music therapy offers a cost-effective, nonpharmacological approach to relieving symptoms among pallative care patients and supporting healthcare providers.

Watch music therapist, Sarra Erb, use singing to help babies in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) to assist their development.

Watch as music therapist Kelsey MacDonald provides music therapy sessions to a patient with dementia at Aberdeen Hospital and listen to testimonials from the patient's daughter and the director of the palliative care unit.

 Music therapy improves the health of premature babies and boosts parental bonding.

Click here to watch a video about this article. 

This book chapter explains the effects of music therapy in palliative care. It is derived from the Oxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine (5th Ed) published by the Oxford University Press. Note: The link includes the full text of the chapter (i.e., 18 pages plus references).

This book presents some of the work from music therapists working in different approaches, in different countries, showing how valuable the inclusion of music therapy in palliative care has already proved to be. It is important for the dying, or those with terminal illness, that approaches are used which integrate the physical, psychological, social and spiritual dimensions of their being.