Music Therapy in the Treatment of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

May 22, 2014 updated by: Beth Israel Medical Center

The Effects of Music Therapy in the Treatment of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

The investigators combine traditional medical care with an integrative modality - Music Therapy specifically including wind playing, singing, and music visualizations- to study the effects on physical function and quality of life for adults with COPD. The primary goals are to increase respiratory function and reduce respiratory symptoms and hospitalizations in order to improve breathing, functional capacity for activities of daily living, psychological well-being and quality of life in adult age 45 and above who are diagnosed with COPD

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

This study examines the effect of a multimodal psycho-music therapy intervention on respiratory symptoms (dyspnea), depression, and quality of life of patients with pulmonary disease during Pumonary Rehabilitation, in the combined effort of two departments of Mount Sinai Beth Israel: The Alice Lawrence Center for Health and Rehabilitation and The Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine

1. Desing The study cohort included patient with at least moderate COPD according to the GOLD classification as well as other chronic disabling respiratory diseases. Inclusion criteria were defined as being enrolled in a Pulmonary Rehabilitation (PR) program as well as the ability to attend music therapy sessions at least once a week for 5 of 6 weekly sessions. The patients were required to be medically stable simultaneously allowing them to participate in the pulmonary rehabilitation program. Standard, routine pulmonary rehabilitative medical care was used as the control to music therapy plus PR and patient selection was provided by a computer generated randomization protocol. The intervention included live music listening with visualization, wind playing and singing undertaken to study their effects on perceived dyspnea, depression and quality of life. Patients were allowed to choose between easy to play wind instruments i.e recorder, slide whistle, harmonica, etc. and instructed on their use. Ninety- eight subjects were evaluated as potential candidates for the study. Thirty of them were excluded because they would not commit to participate in the required number of music therapy sessions either due to the anticipated time commitment or personal/medical concerns. The 68 patients who agreed to participate in the investigation (Age Mean: 70.1), were randomize and 38 were allocated to the treatment group and 30 to the control group. These 68 patients who were newly enrolled in the Alice Lawrence Center had voluntarily sought to participate active PR through advertising and flyers posted in the community and throughout the hospital and affiliated office practices. The weekly music therapy sessions lasted 45 min, for a period of 6 weeks, in groups of 6 participants or less.

2- Method At the beginning and end of each session the patients were asked to score the intensity of current breathlessness by drawing a circle on different pictures of lungs that represented extent of dyspnea (VAS) These recorded measures would be collected at the end of each session, in order to evaluate the subjective effect of the treatment on the patients perception of dyspnea. CRQ and BDI were also administered at the beginning of the PR program and subsequently at 6 weeks, the end of the PR program. In the music therapy group, every session included music visualizations, wind instrument playing, and singing, providing direct methods of working with the breath control and offering active music-making experiences to support optimal breathing, foster self-expression, and increase opportunities for coping with the challenges of chronic respiratory disease.

3-Outcome measures

Primary outcomes were depressive symptoms, disease-specific quality of life factors, and patients' perceived dyspnea:

  • Depressive symptoms were evaluated using the Beck Depression Inventory 2nd edition-Fast Screen (BDI-FS), a 7-item subscale of the BDI-II. The BDI-FS measures signs and symptoms such as sadness, pessimism, past failure, anhedonia, self-dislike, self-criticalness, and suicidal thoughts or ideation.
  • Disease-specific quality of life as measured by the Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire Self-Reported (CRQ-SR) is divided into four dimensions of dyspnea, fatigue, emotional function and mastery, with a 7-point Likert scale response for each question. Dyspnea relates to a patient's symptoms of shortness of breath and difficulty breathing. Mastery relates to a patient's sense of having control over his or her disease and symptoms. Emotion relates to a patient's general mood. Fatigue relates to a patient's energy level. We measured CRQ-SR domain scores at the time of enrolment in the study and again at completion, immediately following the final session after six weeks).

  • Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) scale. This measures perceived dyspnea or breathlessness in participants during the music therapy sessions. The VAS is widely used in the measurement of breathlessness as well as other symptoms, e.g. pain, anxiety (annotate to appendix)

    4-Statistical analysis Each of the dependent measures of primary outcomes (Depression, Dyspnea, and Health-Related Quality of Life) was analyzed using a generalized linear mixed model (SAS Proc GLIMMIX, SAS 9.3) involving a single between subjects factor (Treatment vs. Control) and a single within subjects factor (Period - enrollment vs. follow up 6 weeks later) Test of Treatment Group differences at Enrollment and at 6 weeks were made using planned contrast on the Least-Square means.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

68

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • New York
      • New York, New York, United States, 10003
        • Mount Sinai Beth Israel

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

45 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Patient with at least moderate COPD according to the GOLD classification as well as other chronic disabling respiratory diseases. Inclusion criteria were defined as being enrolled in a Pulmonary Rehabilitation (PR) program as well as the ability to attend music therapy sessions at least once a week for 5 of 6 weekly sessions.
  • The patients were required to be medically stable simultaneously allowing them to participate in the pulmonary rehabilitation program

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Treatment Group - Music Therapy
The experimental group participates in once weekly group music therapy session for 6 weeks using playing of simple wind instruments, singing, and music visualization. The Music therapy session lasts 45 min. and encourages patients to use breathing techniques to achieve a relaxation response. Extructured techniques involving singing, music improvisation supports breath pattens and provides supporting coping styles. The use of wind instruments involves a focus of breathing efficiently and elongating the exhalation to prolong musical tones and transferring breath control. Music Visualization involving deep breathing techniques provides optimal mind-body connection, influences breathing rhythms through more indirect means while reducing stress, accessing altered states and encourages healing imagery.
Behavioral: Psycho-Music Therapy
No Intervention: Standard Pulmonary Rehabilitation

Pulmonary rehabilitation is a program to people with chronic lung diseases like COPD, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis lead full, satisfying lives and restore them to their highest functional capacity. Pulmonary rehab is aimed to improve quality of life by:

Decreasing respiratory symptoms and complications Encouraging self-management and control over daily functioning Improving physical conditioning and exercise performance Improving emotional well-being Reducing hospitalizations

Pulmonary rehab programs include:

Medical management Exercise Breathing retraining Education Emotional support Nutrition counseling

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire Self-Reported (CRQ-SR)
Time Frame: up to six weeks
CRQ-SR is divided into four dimensions of dyspnea, fatigue, emotional function and mastery, with a 7-point Likert scale response for each question. Dyspnea relates to a patient's symptoms of shortness of breath and difficulty breathing. Mastery relates to a patient's sense of having control over his or her disease and symptoms. Emotion relates to a patient's general mood. Fatigue relates to a patient's energy level. Patients generally report that they feel better with an average improvement of 0.5 per dimension. Changes between 0.75 and 1.25 represent important changes of moderate magnitude, and changes greater than 1.5 represent important changes of large magnitude.
up to six weeks
Beck Depression Inventory 2nd edition-Fast Screen (BDI-FS)
Time Frame: up to six weeks
BDI-FS), a 7-item subscale of the BDI-II. The BDI-FS measures signs and symptoms such as sadness, pessimism, past failure, anhedonia, self-dislike, self-criticalness, and suicidal thoughts or ideation. (P5:22). Each question on the BDI is answered on a scale of 0-3 (zero being little or none, and 3 representing a high level of the characteristic in question). Therefore the scale for the sum of the 7 questions goes from 0-21. The suggested scoring is 0-3 = minimal symptoms of depression, 4-6 = mild symptoms of depression, 7-9 = moderate symptoms of depression, and 10-21 = severe symptoms of depression.
up to six weeks
Perceived dyspnea Visual Analogue Scale (VAS)
Time Frame: Treatment group only. It is administrated prior and post every music therapy session. (6 weeks)
A visual analogue scale, consisted in a succession of lung draws representing the breathlessness process with a numerical rating scale. This unidimensional instrument is commonly used in the measurement of dyspnea.
Treatment group only. It is administrated prior and post every music therapy session. (6 weeks)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Beth Israel Medical Center

Collaborators

Johnson & Johnson

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

June 1, 2008

Primary Completion (Actual)

December 1, 2012

Study Completion (Actual)

December 1, 2012

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 21, 2014

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 22, 2014

First Posted (Estimate)

May 23, 2014

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

May 23, 2014

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 22, 2014

Last Verified

May 1, 2014

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 081-08

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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