[Role of interactive music in oncological pediatric patients undergoing painful procedures]

The present study has examined whether interactive music may be considered an effective treatment for the attenuation of anxiety in oncological paediatric patients undergoing painful procedures (lumbar injection, bone marrow aspiration, osteomedullary biopsy and arterial catheter).

Thirty-nine tumour patients aged between 2 and 12 were randomised into 2 groups: Music (M) (N. 20) and Controls (N. 19) and were treated by M: conscious sedation and intervention of interactive music and C: sedation. The following factors were assessed: temperament on the Emotivity, Activity, Sociability scale, anxiety on the Yale preoperative anxiety scale (mYPAS), the induction compliance checklist (ICC), parent anxiety by cataloguing the trait-state anxiety inventory, and the degree of satisfaction of children, parents and staff using the Barrera questionnaires. Data significance was accepted with values of P<0.05.

There was a fall in mYPAS values in M compared to C in the four phases of the process: Phase 1 (P<0.05); Phase 2, 3 and 4 (P<0.01). For the ICC children with a score of 1 were ''non collaborators''; in the music group the trend was for an increase in the number of collaborating children (P<0.07).

The M group presents a significant effect of attenuation of anticipatory anxiety and a tendency to great induction compliance compared to group C. The parents do not show any significant anxiety attenuation effect. The degree of satisfaction of children, parents and staff point to a positive role and a beneficial effect of interactive music on the occasion of painful procedures.