Ezzone, S., Baker, C., Rosselet, R., & Terepka, E. (1998). Music as an adjunct to antiemetic therapy. Oncology Nursing Forum, 25, 1551–1556.

Patients were randomly assigned to the control group (usual antiemetic protocol) or experimental group (usual antiemetic protocol plus music intervention during the 48 hours of high-dose cyclophosphamide administered as part of the preparative regimen for autologous or allogeneic bone marrow transplantation). The experimental group listened to self-selected music (by portable compact disc players and headphones) for 45 minutes at 6, 9, and 12 hours after the start of each infusion as an adjunct to antiemetic therapy.

• The sample consisted of 39 patients, but 33 were included in data analysis.
• The experimental group had 11 males and 5 females; the control group had 8 males and 9 females.
• The median age was 40.3 years for males and 36.9 years for females.
• Race and ethnicity were not reported.
• Treatment was autologous or allogeneic bone marrow transplantation, with high-dose preparative regimens. Participants were inpatients.

The study was conducted at a comprehensive cancer center in the midwestern United States.

The study design was a randomized, controlled clinical trial.

• Nausea was measured at baseline and every eight hours using a visual analog scale (VAS) in the form of a thermometer (0–100 in five-degree increments).
• Nausea was measured the with “feel bad” scale, a five-point, Likert-type scale describing how bad the nausea felt or how sick to the stomach the patient was. Subjective feelings of nausea and all episodes of vomiting were recorded.

Significant differences were found between scores on the VAS for nausea and number of episodes of vomiting; less nausea and fewer instances of vomiting were reported in the experimental group.

Music as an adjunct to antiemetic therapy for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting with high-dose chemotherapy can be effective.

• Only bone marrow transplant recipients were included, one site was used, and the sample size was small.
• The study was a longitudinal study; therefore, problems existed with multiple data collection points, resulting in some missing data.
• Compliance issues existed regarding the music intervention. Patients did not always want to listen to music at designated times because they did not feel well or visitors were present.