A Developmentally-Informed, Stage-Based Model of Music Therapy in Cancer Care

The physical needs of cancer patients have been documented and accounted for in various methods and theories. Some of the emotional needs of patients have been addressed as well. However, the purpose of this paper is to address the need for a music therapy model that relates developmental life stages to the needs of cancer patients. A brief literature review of physical and emotional needs of cancer patients will be presented, as well as a life-stage model of cancer in terms of Diagnosis, Treatment, and Outcome. Based on the existing literature, this study will develop a music therapy model targeting the various developmental life stages and examining the need for specific music therapy interventions for each stage as it relates to cancer Diagnosis, Treatment, and Outcome. The results and implications of this model include a data-based method for assessment and session planning that can be adapted to individual music therapists and corresponding sessions based on existing models of development as well as patient need. In the future, further study and an expansion of this model would be beneficial to patients and music therapists alike, providing that more research is established in terms of both music therapy and cancer care