Literature Review

How music is rewriting end-of-life care The Daily Iowan; by Madison Schuler; 2/18/25 The form of therapy relieves not only patients but also family members. Over the years, music has been used to express emotions for some while creating connections and memories for others. Listening to a certain song can take people back to a specific moment. Whether it elicits joy, pain, anger, or sadness, music has a different effect on each individual. Music stays with people throughout their lives, always bringing forth those emotions or memories. For those in end-of-life care, music can do the same. ... Today, hospitals and hospice centers are seeing an increase in the use of music therapy, specifically in end-of-life care. [Click on the title's link to learn more.] Editor's note: Click here for the national directory of CBMT board certified music therapists. Click here for my 2005 book in Routledge's Series in Death, Dying and Bereavement, Music of the Soul - Composing Life Out of Loss.

Children’s book written by Manheim Township mother finally published 3 years after she died of cancer [video] LNP Lancaster Online, Lancaster, PA; by John Walk; 1/27/25 As she battled a rare sarcoma cancer over the last two years of her life, Manheim Township resident Ginny McCreary struggled to find a children’s book she could read to her two young daughters to help them better understand what she was going through. So McCreary wrote the book herself, sometimes on a smartphone while laying in bed late at night, ... McCreary died Aug. 15, 2021. She was 34. She left behind a self-published manuscript of the children’s book that sat idle for about two years but was not forgotten. ... The book has also made its way inside four Hospice & Community Care locations in Lancaster as well as Penn Medicine’s Ann B. Barshinger Cancer Institute in East Hempfield Township. [Video with Ginny's mother] "I'd love to get it to some cancer centers and hospice centers ..." [Click on the title's link for more information.]

Care Dimensions receives $10,000 grant from ACM Lifting Lives to support music therapy program MassNonprofit News; 1/22/25Care Dimensions, the largest hospice and palliative care provider in Massachusetts, is proud to announce receiving a $10,000 grant from ACM Lifting Lives®, the philanthropic partner of the Academy of Country Music. ... “Dealing with memory loss can be such an unmooring experience,” noted Care Dimensions Creative Arts Therapy Coordinator Li Kynvi, who is a board-certified music therapist. “One of the magical things about music therapy, especially for those with dementia, is that music lives in them in a whole different way than even the last five minutes does, which enables them to not only engage with a song, but engage with the person sharing it, and delivers a feeling of connection and competence often difficult for dementia patients to experience.”Editor's note: Providing patient care from a board certified music therapist is far superior to simply having a musician perform. Music therapy focuses on the person: physically, mentally, emotionally, socially, spiritually. Music therapy engages memories and meanings for the present moment, and ahead. For more information, examine the Certification Board for Music Therapy. Click here for their directory.

Development and outcomes of a provider-driven, online continuing education program on integrative palliative care: Randomized controlled trialGlobal Advances in Integrative Medicine and Health; William Collinge, PhD, MPH; Leila Kozak, PhD; Scott Mist, PhD, MAcOM; Robert Soltysik, MS; 1/25While conventional medicine excels in emergency and acute care, complementary therapies are increasingly being integrated into efforts for symptom management and quality of life (QoL) in hospital, hospice and nursing home environments. The term “complementary” denotes a cooperative or collaborative relationship between conventional and unconventional modalities, and when such integration takes place, the terms “complementary” and “integrative” are commonly used interchangeably. Hospices have been early adaptors of such therapies with surveys in various states showing between 60-90% of hospices offering these modalities. This provider-driven CE/CME program led to significant positive changes in practitioners’ self-efficacy and implementation of integrative care practices in PC settings. The results indicate that CE/CME can have measurable impacts that benefit providers and may potentially impact patients, families and the culture of care.

'Art helps me deal with my cancer diagnosis' BBC News, West Midlands, United Kingdom; by Sophie Madden; 11/18/24 After being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, Wendy Brookfield said she had lots of emotions. But a referral to art therapy through the Severn Hospice, based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, helped her deal with what she was going through. "There is so much going on in your mind that being able to go along to art therapy, I could just get it out and get it down on paper," she said. "It just such a good outlet for me." Her therapy sessions led to her starting a book of sketches which she regularly filled in, sometimes during her treatment sessions. They inspired the hospice to host its own art exhibition, built around Ms Brookfield's work and with other pieces created by patients.