Childhood cancer is the number one disease killer in children. Cancer kills more children than any other disease. Over 2,300 children with cancer die each year (Ibackjack, 2013, p.1). Cancer causes pain, stress, anxiety and many more physical behaviors, but how can music therapy affect those behaviors? This paper will demonstrate the physical effects cancer has on children and how music therapy can promote improvement in these areas. When a child is first diagnosed with cancer, their whole life changes, as does the life of their family. Depending on what stage the cancer is, the child might be forced to change their whole lifestyle. In the article “The Development of a Music Therapy Assessment Tool for Hospitalized Children”, it states …show more content…
The article “Children and Adolescents Coping With Cancer: Self- and Parent Reports of Coping and Anxiety/Depression” (Compas, 2014) states the significance in anxiety and stress for cancer children patients. In each article I have read so far one of the main things it states is how stressful the experience of cancer can be and how high the levels of anxiety can be for the patients. “Studies conducted with cancer patients using music have found it to be effective in alleviating anxiety”(Boldt, p. 166). Music can be a true benefit for patients suffering from cancer. Maru Barrera (2002) stated in the article music therapy is likely to enhance coping and can provide physical and emotional comfort for patients with life-threating disease such as cancer (Barrera 2002). In the study by Susan Boldt (1996) it states that music could have a positive effect on children suffering from …show more content…
Stated in the article “Early Intervention Music Therapy: Reporting on a 3-Year Project To Address Needs with At-Risk Families”, “Music has long been associated with parent-child interactions and bonding. The act of singing is one of the earliest and most common forms of musical interaction, shared between a parent and child. Music used by families in an interactive way within a group setting can support participants in developing skills that enhance parent-child relationships”(Abad, 2007). Since music therapy can help a child with developmental skills bond with parents, and help with interaction, it can help a child develop a strong relationship with their family members, which is a part that will help a child heal with cancer.
For cancer patients, it is very important for them to have the support and love from their family’s but it also important to have support from the music therapist. The article by Noah Potvin (2015) stated that the music therapist was able establish a trust and secureness between the child and themselves. They felt the therapist care about them and cared how the music was affecting their wellbeing. The patients felt the music therapy sessions helped to keep them relaxed, increased pain management and helped with
In 1998, the most common cause of child and adolescents death claimed approximately 2500 young lives in the United States alone. The cause of this dreadful loss of life was due to childhood cancers. This paper explores the changes in the life of children dealing with cancer, families that have been affected by these diseases (also known as pediatric cancer) and a small part of the journey they experience. Cancer does not discriminate and affects all members of the family unit. This paper investigates the challenges that a family will experience from the first diagnoses through palliative care. It examines research and statistic about childhood cancer from organization as the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the National Cancer Institute's (NCI), Children’s Cancer Research Fund (CCRF), and other cancer research organization. Although there are 12 major types of cancers that affect children, the main focus in this paper will be acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL). It will also include an interview, the personal experiences of a family, real life emotions, and the effect on the parents and sibling of the (Ashtyn) child presently facing acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL). Life is no longer what formerly was known as being normal. Life with cancer becomes a new journey, the new normal family life that, unfortunately is not normal, but a life that includes cancer.
Music therapy not only works on adults in the workplace but also on premature babies, infants, and children as well.
...e to communicate with the people that have supported her throughout the whole process and others that she will meet in years to come. She is happy, intelligent, and is open to new foods and learning new things at an accelerating rate. Nicholas used to be antisocial and quiet around the other kids at his daycare. However, now has the confidence to make friends at daycare, interact with them, play with them and have the courage ride his new tricycle. His parents describe him as a “speed demon.” Music has helped him improve on skills he was lagging and has essentially built up his self-esteem. He has improved overall and completely changed. Music is extremely beneficial since it has helped expand therapeutic purposes for autistic patients like Ashley and Nicholas, but others that have been through severe trauma, a heart attack and patients suffering from cancer too.
Music therapy works because of its three fundamentals: the application of systematic thinking through music theory, the creation of an individualized treatment plan, as well as the patie...
B., Gfeller, K. E., & Thaut, M. H. (2008). An Introduction to Music Therapy: Theory and
Cancer is a word which evokes many different images and emotions. Nothing in this world can prepare a person for the utter devastation of finding out someone has been diagnosed with cancer, especially when this person is a child. Over the past twenty five years the amount of research and the survival rate for children suffering with cancer have increased dramatically. Despite these successes, the funding for new research necessary to keep these children alive and healthy is miniscule and too dependent on short term grants. Of the billions of dollars spent each year on cancer treatments and research less than a third is contributed to researching pediatric cancer. Given the media focus on adult cancers, research for pediatric cancer is underfunded. In order to maintain the increasing survival rate of the children undergoing pediatric cancer and support those who have survived the disease, better funding is quintessential to develop and further promote research.
Many Cancer patients use music to stay strong throughout their treatments to help them cope with the anxiety, pain, and depression. Some studies show that music rehabilitation can help adolescents with cancer to manage, by encouraging them to collaborate and interconnect. Being able to cope with major decisions that are thrown at you in life can cause stress which can lead to other things; being able to calm down by listening to music is a great way to keep patients from causing their self harm. There wouldn’t be a need for any medication that the patient will have to take on a daily basis to deal with anxiety, stress, and depression.
Children of every age and grade can benefit from music therapy. Music therapy supports children emotionally, socially and with their cognitive abilities; while involving the “use of behavioral, developmental,
If you do not already have children, imagine that you have a son or daughter under the age of twenty-one, and they start complaining of pain somewhere in their body. When you take them to the doctor to have it investigated, and it turns out to be a tumor, or an obstruction in the area that is pushing against the organs or bones. The tumor your child has developed is a type of pediatric cancer and your child is now one of thirty-six children to be diagnosed every day with cancer in the United States (“Facts”). Being the smart and proactive parent that you are, you begin to research the various cures available for pediatric cancer in the United States. You discover that adult treatments are being used on children due to the lack of funding that pediatric cancer research receives.
Art therapy is a psychotherapy where free expression through art materials is used and works as a stress-relieving activity or to help the therapist in finding a diagnosis. Medical art therapy is used specifically for people who are undergoing aggressive medical treatment, are physically ill, or are experiencing trauma to the body. In children who have cancer, art therapy can be especially beneficial. Often, children do not understand what is happening to them or why it is happening to them, and they become very scared. This can also place stress on the parents, who want to console their child but do not know how to do so. Luckily, the use of art therapy in the medical setting can help not only the child undergoing treatment, but also the patient’s
...cott, Elizabeth. "Music and Your Body: How Music Affects Us and Why Music Therapy Promotes Health." . N.p., 10 Apr. 2014. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. .
When one hears the word “cancer”, thoughts about how their previous life is about to change cloud the mind, but when one hears the word cancer for their child, it is a whole different outlook; the affects of childhood cancer are not only taken on by the patients, but also by their families; the affects can range from emotionally to physically, socially to financially, and even educationally. “Childhood cancer is considered rare, especially compared with adults. Still it’s the leading cause of death in children pre-adolescent, school-aged children” (Report: Childhood Cancer Rates Continue to Rise, but Treatment Helps Drive Down Deaths). Around 12,000 children in the United States are diagnosed with cancer every year and around one in five children that are diagnosed with cancer will die.
Li, X., Zhou, K., Yan, H., Wang, D., & Zhang, Y. (2012). Effects of music therapy on anxiety of patients with breast cancer after radical mastectomy: a randomized clinical trial. Journal Of Advanced Nursing, 68(5), 1145-1155.
Music Therapy is the prescribed use of music and musical interventions to restore, maintain, and improve emotional, physical, physiological, and spiritual health and well-being. These are the key elements which define interventions as music therapy. Music Therapy is goal oriented and provides a system to work towards a specific therapeutic goal and objective. Goals identified can include communicative, academic, motor emotional and social skills. In the end the music development learned in the sessions hopefully have a relaxing, positive effect on the client’s physical, psychological and socio-economical functioning. Music Therapy became a profession in 1950 with the establishment of the National Association for Music Therapy and the American Association for Music Therapy Association. (AMTA) There were nonmusical goals set for the professional setting. “They included: improving communication skills, decreasing inappropriate ...
Munz, Michele. Music Support Program for Teen, Young Adult Cancer Patients. St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO) 26 Sept. 2013: Newspaper Source Plus. Web.