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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychiatry

Sec. Psychological Therapy and Psychosomatics

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1658503

This article is part of the Research TopicMusic-based Interventions for Mental Health and WellbeingView all 7 articles

Effect of group music therapy on state-anxiety and well-being levels of oncology patients undergoing chemotherapy: A multi-center randomized clinical trial

Provisionally accepted
Mark  EttenbergerMark Ettenberger1,2*Laura  Reyes AragónLaura Reyes Aragón1,2Ana  Maria DíazAna Maria Díaz1,2Raúl  SuárezRaúl Suárez1,2Moshé  AmarilloMoshé Amarillo2Mariana  NaranjoMariana Naranjo1,2Claudia  C. Colmenares-MejíaClaudia C. Colmenares-Mejía3
  • 1Clinica Colsanitas SA, Bogotá, Colombia
  • 2SONO - Centro de Musicoterapia, Bogotá, Colombia
  • 3Fundacion Universitaria Sanitas, Bogotá, Colombia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Background: Cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy may experience several mental health challenges, including increased levels of anxiety and affected well-being. Music therapy and other music-based interventions have previously been applied to improve patient mental health during chemotherapy, but multi-site RCTs that report live group music therapy interventions are scarce.Methods: This is a multi-site randomized clinical trial (RCT) with two arms: a single live group music therapy session + standard care and standard care alone. Primary outcome measure was the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and secondary outcome measures were the Well-being Numerical Rating Scales (WB-NRSs). Between-group differences in STAI and WB-NRSs scores were analyzed using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test. Intra-individual pre-post changes were assessed with the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. This study follows the CONSORT guidelines for reporting RCTs.Results: A total of 110 patients were included in this study. Results showed a statistically significant reduction of state anxiety from pre-to post-intervention for the music therapy group (p<0.001), but not for the control group. Between-group analysis showed significantly lower post-intervention STAI scores in the music therapy group as compared to the control group (p<0.001). With respect to wellbeing, only the music therapy group had statistically significant increases in all dimensions of wellbeing within-group from pre-to post timepoints, and between-group analysis showed statistically significant post-intervention differences in psychological (p = 0.005) and general well-being (p = 0.030) favoring the music therapy group. Effects of hospital sites on the outcomes were not significant. Discussion: The results suggest that group music therapy during chemotherapy is a safe and effective strategy to improve mental health and well-being in cancer patients. To our knowledge, this is the first multicenter RCT on group music therapy during chemotherapy in [country, de-identified for peer review]. Future studies should aim at integrating caregivers of chemotherapy patients and seek expansion to an international multi-site RCT.Clinical trial registration: clinicaltrials.gov (NCT06577324, submission date: August 21 st , 2024).

Keywords: Music Therapy, chemotherapy, Anxiety, Well-being, Mental Health, oncology music therapy, oncology

Received: 02 Jul 2025; Accepted: 04 Aug 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Ettenberger, Reyes Aragón, Díaz, Suárez, Amarillo, Naranjo and Colmenares-Mejía. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Mark Ettenberger, Clinica Colsanitas SA, Bogotá, Colombia

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