Resources & references

Watch how music therapist Jessie Habluetzel supports children in a pediatric hospital setting. Two case examples are shared, including one child undergoing a bone marrow transplant, and another with both Down Syndrome and leukemia. 

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. 

Watch a video featuring music therapist Susan Bakouros showing how music therapy is offered in a hopsital NICU setting. Examples of using music therapy for feeding support, neurodevelopment and parental connection are discussed. 

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. 

This research article reviewed existing studies to evaluate the efficacy of music therapy in supporting adults going through cancer treatment. The results showed that music therapy was effective in improving psychosocial wellbeing, pain management, and enhancing quality of life.