CClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT02661880Updated Nov 22, 2022

The Role of Music in Palliative Care: A Proposal for a Rural Based Initiative in Music Based Interventions

An interventional study of preferred music in Improved Emotional Regulation, Improvement in Quality of Life and Symptom Relief, sponsored by Nova Scotia Health Authority. Completed. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2022-11-22.

Sponsored by Nova Scotia Health Authority · Not applicable, Interventional, and Supportive care

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
30
Allocation
Not applicable
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Current practice in larger palliative care centers offer many supportive service modalities, which are often unavailable in the rural setting. Music Therapy by experienced registered Music Therapists is an example of such a modality. The current evidence continues to grow, identifying Music Therapy's benefits to help with symptom relief as well as to improve Quality of Life in many aspects of medicine, but especially in the context of palliative care. This proposal outlines an initiative to provide music-based interventions in a rural community palliative care unit where there is limited availability to a registered Music Therapist.

Read the detailed description

Study participants in the pilot phase will include patients admitted to the Aberdeen Hospital Palliative Care Unit. Patients excluded from participating would include those unwilling to participate for any reason. All patients will be invited to complete the McGill Quality of Life Questionnaire - Revised (McGill QOL-R) upon admission to the unit. The Questionnaire will not be part of the permanent medical record and the participants will remain anonymous. Afterwards participants will be asked if they would like to listen to music during their stay in the hospital. Music will be selected according to their choices from an i-Tunes playlist. Participants will be invited to listen to music at their own discretion. Prior to discharge from the hospital or after 3 days all willing patients will be again invited to complete the McGill QOL-R questionnaire. The participants will remain anonymous, but will be identified as to whether they listened or did not listen to music during their hospitalization.

02

Conditions studied

  • Improved Emotional Regulation
  • Improvement in Quality of Life
  • Symptom Relief
  • Preservation of Dignity
  • Existential Solace
  • Relief of Suffering
  • Emotional Regulation
  • Quality of Life
  • Dignity
03

In context

Lead sponsor

Nova Scotia Health Authority is the lead sponsor of 255 studies on the registry; 76 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
Child (0–17), Adult (18–64), Older adult (65+)
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

  • patients admitted to the Aberdeen Hospital Palliative Care Unit.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • those patients unwilling to participate for any reason
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Supportive care
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
30 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    listening to preferred music choices

    All patients will be invited to complete the McGill Quality of Life Questionnaire - Revised (McGill QOL-R) upon admission to the unit. The Questionnaire will not be part of the permanent medical record and the participants will remain anonymous. Afterwards participants will be asked if they would like to listen to music during their stay in the hospital. Music will be selected according to their choices from an i-Tunes playlist. Participants will be invited to listen to music at their own discretion. Prior to discharge from the hospital or after 3 days all willing participants will be again invited to complete the McGill QOL-R questionnaire.

    Behavioral: preferred music

Interventions

  • Behavioralpreferred music

    listening to preferred music choices

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Quality of Life-using the McGill QOL-revised questionnaire

    Time frame: within 3 months of data collection

07

Study locations

No study locations are listed for this record.

08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Nov 22, 2022, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT02661880
Lead sponsor
Nova Scotia Health Authority
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Jan 25, 2016
Start date
Mar 7, 2016
Primary completion
Apr 6, 2016
Completion
Apr 6, 2017
Last update
Nov 22, 2022

Study contacts

Anne M Kwasnik-Krawczyk
principal investigator · Dalhousie University

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Jan 2016. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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