CClinicalTrials.gg
Status unknownNCT04551274Updated Sep 16, 2020

Music Therapy in Frontline Healthcare Workers

An interventional study of Music Therapy in Mood and Emotional Stress, sponsored by Simon Fraser University. Status unknown at 1 site in Canada. Open to participants aged 19 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2020-09-16.

Sponsored by Simon Fraser University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Supportive care

The sponsor has not verified this record recently (last verified Sep 2020), so the status shown — last known as Not yet recruiting — may be out of date.
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
20
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
19 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The objective of this project is to investigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on frontline healthcare workers, and determine if a virtual music therapy can improve mood and emotional state in this population.

For this pilot study, EEG will also be used to assess measures of functional connectivity, attention, and mood in adult participants. Participants will also be evaluated for measures of emotion using a standardized test battery (NIH toolbox).

This pilot study will show how frontline healthcare workers have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and provide evidence as to the effectiveness of Music Therapy to support mental health in this essential population.

Read the detailed description

Purpose:

The purpose of this study is to investigate (a) the self-described impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on frontline healthcare workers, and (b) the use of music therapy to improve mental healththis population. Built on top of our successful neuroscience and neuroimaging research, we aim to use behavioural assessments combined with portable EEG technology to monitor how metrics of brain function and mental health change over time in frontline healthcare workers undergoing Music Therapy.

Hypothesis:

We expect to see improvements in behavioural/emotional metrics as a result of music therapy - with correlations to changes in brain activation, markers of attention, and connectivity.

Justification:

Music Therapy interventions involve the use of live music (performed or created by the therapist and/or patient), and a process that includes patient-specific assessment, treatment, and evaluation. Music Therapy has shown to be effective in addressing symptoms related to global and social functioning in schizophrenia and/or serious mental disorders, gait and related activities in Parkinson's disease, depressive symptoms, and sleep quality.

Objectives:

  1. The first objective of this study is to investigate how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the lives of frontline healthcare workers
  2. The second objective is to investigate the effect of music therapy on mental health in frontline healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic
  3. The third objective is to investigate EEG-related changes in frontline healthcare workers with music therapy, and correlate to behavioural changes

Research Design:

This is a longitudinal study design. 20 frontline healthcare workers will be recruited. 10 will be randomly assigned to no therapy (control) and 10 will be assigned to a music therapy (intervention) group. Random assignment will be prospectively performed using Microsoft Excel. Each subject code will be randomly assigned a decimal number from 0-1. All subject codes will then be sorted with their random numbers in ascending order. The 10 subject codes with the largest number will be placed in the intervention group, and the remaining 10 in the control group

Participants in the therapy group will complete 4 weeks of music therapy. Experimental measures will be completed before and after the 4 week period.

Statistical Analysis:

Outcomes from the EEG and behavioural assessments will be compared across groups and time points using a repeated Measures Analysis of Variance (ANOVA).

02

Conditions studied

  • Mood
  • Emotional Stress

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03

In context

Stress, Psychological

781 studies on the registry are indexed under Stress, Psychological; 128 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 20 is below the median of 86 across 630 interventional studies indexed under Stress, Psychological.

Browse Stress, Psychological studies →

Lead sponsor

Simon Fraser University is the lead sponsor of 29 studies on the registry; 6 are open to participants now.

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

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
19 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

  • All participants will be required to be frontline healthcare workers, (i.e. paramedics, EMTs, nurses, doctors). Participants will be adults aged 19 years and above, who are English speakers, with normal or corrected vision and hearing abilities. Participants will be required to have independent capacity to consent, as per Article 3.3 of the TCPS2. Due to the virtual nature of the study, participants will need to have access to a computer/laptop with a webcam to be able to interact with the music therapist and the study team.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Participants who have experienced a traumatic brain injury in the last 12 months, or who have previously been diagnosed with any other neurological, neuropsychological, or psychiatric diseases/disorders/conditions will not be enrolled in the study.
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Supportive care
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Single (Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
20 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Music Therapy

    Participants in the music therapy group will complete a 4 week music therapy program, with a minimum of 2 sessions per week.

    Behavioral: Music Therapy

  • No intervention
    Control

    Control group participants will not experience any intervention

Interventions

  • BehavioralMusic Therapy

    Music Therapy interventions involve the use of live music (performed or created by the therapist and/or patient), and a process that includes patient-specific assessment, treatment, and evaluation

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Change in Perceived Stress score - NIH Emotion Toolbox

    The NIH Toolbox Emotion Battery is a comprehensive set of neuro-behavioral measurements that quickly assess emotional functions. It consists of surveys in the domains of Negative Effect ,Psychological Well-Being, Stress \& Self-Efficacy, and Social Relationships. It is based on a nationally representative sample to enable cross-measure comparisons, and is well-suited for measuring outcomes in longitudinal studies. Questions for each subitem are arranged on a likert scale with associated scores from 1-5. The overall score for each measure (at each time point) is calculated as the sum of scores for each question.

    Time frame: 4 weeks

  2. Change in General Life Satisfaction score - NIH Emotion Toolbox

    The NIH Toolbox Emotion Battery is a comprehensive set of neuro-behavioral measurements that quickly assess emotional functions. It consists of surveys in the domains of Negative Effect ,Psychological Well-Being, Stress \& Self-Efficacy, and Social Relationships. It is based on a nationally representative sample to enable cross-measure comparisons, and is well-suited for measuring outcomes in longitudinal studies. Questions for each subitem are arranged on a likert scale with associated scores from 1-5. The overall score for each measure (at each time point) is calculated as the sum of scores for each question.

    Time frame: 4 weeks

  3. Change in Positive Affect score - NIH Emotion Toolbox

    The NIH Toolbox Emotion Battery is a comprehensive set of neuro-behavioral measurements that quickly assess emotional functions. It consists of surveys in the domains of Negative Effect ,Psychological Well-Being, Stress \& Self-Efficacy, and Social Relationships. It is based on a nationally representative sample to enable cross-measure comparisons, and is well-suited for measuring outcomes in longitudinal studies. Questions for each subitem are arranged on a likert scale with associated scores from 1-5. The overall score for each measure (at each time point) is calculated as the sum of scores for each question.

    Time frame: 4 weeks

  4. Change in Anger score - NIH Emotion Toolbox

    The NIH Toolbox Emotion Battery is a comprehensive set of neuro-behavioral measurements that quickly assess emotional functions. It consists of surveys in the domains of Negative Effect ,Psychological Well-Being, Stress \& Self-Efficacy, and Social Relationships. It is based on a nationally representative sample to enable cross-measure comparisons, and is well-suited for measuring outcomes in longitudinal studies. Questions for each subitem are arranged on a likert scale with associated scores from 1-5. The overall score for each measure (at each time point) is calculated as the sum of scores for each question.

    Time frame: 4 weeks

  5. Change in Fear score - NIH Emotion Toolbox

    The NIH Toolbox Emotion Battery is a comprehensive set of neuro-behavioral measurements that quickly assess emotional functions. It consists of surveys in the domains of Negative Effect ,Psychological Well-Being, Stress \& Self-Efficacy, and Social Relationships. It is based on a nationally representative sample to enable cross-measure comparisons, and is well-suited for measuring outcomes in longitudinal studies. Questions for each subitem are arranged on a likert scale with associated scores from 1-5. The overall score for each measure (at each time point) is calculated as the sum of scores for each question.

    Time frame: 4 weeks

  6. Change in Meaning & Purpose score - NIH Emotion Toolbox

    The NIH Toolbox Emotion Battery is a comprehensive set of neuro-behavioral measurements that quickly assess emotional functions. It consists of surveys in the domains of Negative Effect ,Psychological Well-Being, Stress \& Self-Efficacy, and Social Relationships. It is based on a nationally representative sample to enable cross-measure comparisons, and is well-suited for measuring outcomes in longitudinal studies. Questions for each subitem are arranged on a likert scale with associated scores from 1-5. The overall score for each measure (at each time point) is calculated as the sum of scores for each question.

    Time frame: 4 weeks

  7. Change in Sadness score - NIH Emotion Toolbox

    The NIH Toolbox Emotion Battery is a comprehensive set of neuro-behavioral measurements that quickly assess emotional functions. It consists of surveys in the domains of Negative Effect ,Psychological Well-Being, Stress \& Self-Efficacy, and Social Relationships. It is based on a nationally representative sample to enable cross-measure comparisons, and is well-suited for measuring outcomes in longitudinal studies. Questions for each subitem are arranged on a likert scale with associated scores from 1-5. The overall score for each measure (at each time point) is calculated as the sum of scores for each question.

    Time frame: 4 weeks

  8. Change in Emotional Support score - NIH Emotion Toolbox

    The NIH Toolbox Emotion Battery is a comprehensive set of neuro-behavioral measurements that quickly assess emotional functions. It consists of surveys in the domains of Negative Effect ,Psychological Well-Being, Stress \& Self-Efficacy, and Social Relationships. It is based on a nationally representative sample to enable cross-measure comparisons, and is well-suited for measuring outcomes in longitudinal studies. Questions for each subitem are arranged on a likert scale with associated scores from 1-5. The overall score for each measure (at each time point) is calculated as the sum of scores for each question.

    Time frame: 4 weeks

  9. Change in Loneliness score - NIH Emotion Toolbox

    The NIH Toolbox Emotion Battery is a comprehensive set of neuro-behavioral measurements that quickly assess emotional functions. It consists of surveys in the domains of Negative Effect ,Psychological Well-Being, Stress \& Self-Efficacy, and Social Relationships. It is based on a nationally representative sample to enable cross-measure comparisons, and is well-suited for measuring outcomes in longitudinal studies. Questions for each subitem are arranged on a likert scale with associated scores from 1-5. The overall score for each measure (at each time point) is calculated as the sum of scores for each question.

    Time frame: 4 weeks

Secondary outcomes

  1. EEG - Change in power in the Delta band

    Resting-state EEG will be recorded

    Time frame: 4 weeks

  2. EEG - Change in power in the Beta band

    Resting-state EEG will be recorded

    Time frame: 4 weeks

  3. EEG - Change in power in the Alpha band

    Resting-state EEG will be recorded

    Time frame: 4 weeks

  4. EEG - Change in power in the Theta band

    Resting-state EEG will be recorded

    Time frame: 4 weeks

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Simon Fraser University
    Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6V, Canada
    • Shaun D Fickling, PhD · Contact · sficklin@sfu.ca
    • Ryan CN D'Arvy, PhD · Principal investigator
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 Sep 16, 2020, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04551274
Lead sponsor
Simon Fraser University
Collaborators
Music Heals Charitable Foundation
Responsible party
Ryan D'Arcy (Professor, Simon Fraser University) — Principal investigator
First posted
Sep 16, 2020
Start date
Oct 1, 2020 (estimated)
Primary completion
Nov 30, 2020 (estimated)
Completion
Nov 30, 2020 (estimated)
Last update
Sep 16, 2020

Study contacts

Ryan CN D'Arcy, PhD
Contact
rdarcy@sfu.ca
7789199215 ext. +1
Glen Chapman, PhD
study director · Simon Fraser University

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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