Music Therapy or Book Discussion in Improving Quality of Life in Young Patients Undergoing Stem Cell Transplant

• Symptoms-related distress (pain, anxiety, fatigue, mucositis, sedation, and mood) [ Time Frame: pre- and post-sessions 2, 4, and 6, baseline, immediately after completion of study treatment, and 100 days post-transplant ]
  
• Uncertainty in illness as assessed by the Mishel Uncertainty in Illness Scale [ Time Frame: baseline, immediately after completion of study treatment, and 100 days post-transplant ]
  
• Use of defensive coping [ Time Frame: immediately after completion of study treatment, and 100 days post-transplant ]
  
• Use of positive coping [ Time Frame: immediately after completion of study treatment, and 100 days post-transplant ]
  

• Communication with family as assessed by Parent-Adolescent Communication [ Time Frame: at baseline, immediately after completion of study treatment, and 100 days post-transplant ]
  
• Adaptability or cohesion as assessed by FACES II [ Time Frame: at baseline, immediately after completion of study treatment, and 100 days post-transplant ]
  
• Perceived social support from friends, family, and healthcare providers [ Time Frame: at baseline, immediately after completion of study treatment, and 100 days post-transplant ]
  
• Greater derived meaning from stem cell transplantation (STC) experience [ Time Frame: immediately after completion of study treatment, and 100 days post-transplant ]
  
• Higher resilience [ Time Frame: after completion of study treatment, and 100 days post-transplant ]
  
• Quality of life [ Time Frame: at baseline, immediately after completion of study treatment, and 100 days post-transplant ]
  

OBJECTIVES:

• Test the efficacy, in terms of resilience and quality of life, of a therapeutic music video (TMV) intervention vs listening and discussing books on tape (control group) for adolescents and young adults (AYA) undergoing autologous or allogeneic transplantation for cancer.
• Qualitatively describe the perception of helpfulness and meaningfulness of a sub-group of both interventions for AYA and family members 100 days post-transplant.

OUTLINE: This is a randomized, controlled, limited multicenter study. Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 arms.

• Arm I (books on tape [control group]): Patients undergo six 1-hour sessions twice a week for 3 weeks with a trained counselor in which they choose up to 3 books on CD and listen to the book and/or discuss their impressions and thoughts about the contents with the counselor. Patients are provided with a portable CD player to listen to the books during their hospitalization.
• Arm II (therapeutic music video [TMV ] intervention): Patients undergo six 1-hour sessions twice a week for 3 weeks with a music therapist, designed specifically for the pre-transplant and acute phase of treatment. Phases of patient participation include song writing, recording the song with a digital accompaniment track, completing a video layout worksheet, taking photos or making drawings for the video, viewing clip art and pictures on a computer, and sharing the final video with family members and hospital staff.

In both arms, patients complete questionnaires before and after sessions 2, 4, and 6 with the music therapist. Patients also complete computer-based questionnaires before hospitalization, after session six during hospitalization, and at 100 days post-transplantation.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 130 patients will be accrued for this study.