A Non-Randomized Controlled Trial of the Active Music Engagement (AME) Intervention on Children With Cancer [Corrected Title, See Note in Abstract]

Journal

Psycho-Oncology

Year

2008

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Coping theorists argue that environmental factors affect how children perceive and respond to stressful events such as cancer. However, few studies have investigated how particular interventions can change coping behaviors. The active music engagement (AME) intervention was designed to counter stressful qualities of the in-patient hospital environment by introducing three forms of environmental support. METHOD: The purpose of this multi-site randomized controlled trial was to determine the efficacy of the AME intervention on three coping-related behaviors (i.e. positive facial affect, active engagement, and initiation). Eighty-three participants, ages 4-7, were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: AME (n = 27), music listening (ML; n = 28), or audio storybooks (ASB; n = 28). Conditions were videotaped to facilitate behavioral data collection using time-sampling procedures. RESULTS: After adjusting for baseline differences, repeated measure analyses indicated that AME participants had a significantly higher frequency of coping-related behaviors compared with ML or ASB. Positive facial affect and active engagement were significantly higher during AME compared with ML and ASB (p<0.0001). Initiation was significantly higher during AME than ASB (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: This study supports the use of the AME intervention to encourage coping-related behaviors in hospitalized children aged 4-7 receiving cancer treatment. [Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 17(9) of Psycho-Oncology (see record [rid]2008-14246-015[/rid]). The authors changed the word "randomized" to "non-randomized" in the paper's title to clarify that the study participants were not allocated to the research conditions at random, but were sequentially assigned to one of three study conditions at each site.]

Music and Health Institute Terms

Cancer; Children; Coping; Hospital Setting; Music Listening; Receptive Music Methods; Stress

Indexed Terms

Children; Child, Preschool; Hospitalization; Adaptation, Psychological; Social Behavior; Affect; Social Environment; Neoplasms; Sick Role

Study Type

Randomized Controlled Trial; Quantitative Methods

Document Type

Article

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