Chapter 6 - Music Therapy in Hospice and Palliative Care

Abstract

A growing number of music therapists work at least part-time with people in hospice and/or palliative care. These professionals work with patients and their families as part of an interdisciplinary group of care providers. Music therapists work to help reduce pain, anxiety and spiritual distress and to increase overall quality of life and positive coping for patients in hospitals, nursing facilities, private homes, and in-patient hospices. This care may start as soon as a patient is diagnosed with an illness such as cancer or renal failure, and can carry through until the patient’s death if the disease does not respond to curative treatment. In addition, music therapists help patients’ families work through their grief both before and after the death of their loved one. The challenge of hospice and palliative care is that music therapists care for children, people with disabilities and/or behavioral health issues, and people with a variety of cultural backgrounds as either patients or family members. Music therapists needs to be prepared to offer culturally competent and developmentally appropriate care while patients go through disease-focused treatment and as they approach the time of death.