Randomised controlled trial of music listening combined with progressive muscle relaxation for mood management in women receiving chemotherapy for cancer.

Aims: To evaluate the effects of passive music listening combined with progressive muscle relaxation on anxiety, depression, stress, coping, and quality-of-life in women with breast and gynaecological cancers receiving chemotherapy.

Methods: This was an assessor-blinded, randomised wait-list controlled trial. A total of 120 participants were randomly allocated into an intervention group or a wait-list control group. The intervention group received an intervention comprising training on passive music listening and progressive muscle relaxation, with once-daily self-practice at home for 3 weeks. The wait-list control group received the same intervention after the outcome assessment at week 6. All outcome data were collected before (T0) and 3 weeks (T1), 6 weeks (T2), and 12 months (T3) after randomisation. A generalised estimating equations model was used to compare the changes in each outcome at different time points. Process evaluation was conducted using data from the patient's self-report forms and interviews.

Results: The findings indicated that at T1 and T2, the intervention group's reductions in anxiety were significantly larger than those of the control group. Additionally, the intervention group exhibited significantly better decreases in depression at T2, stress at T1, and dysfunctional coping at T2, and a greater improvement in quality-of-life score at T1 and T2 when compared to the control group. Most of the interviewed participants provided positive feedback on the intervention.

Conclusions: The intervention was beneficial for lowering anxiety, depression, and stress and increasing the quality-of-life of women receiving chemotherapy for breast and gynaecological cancers.

Trial Registration: The trial was prospectively registered with ClinicalTrials.gov on 9 February 2022 (registration number: NCT05262621).