Innovations in Delivering Oncology Music Therapy Services: A Response to COVID-19

ABSTRACT

Music therapy has long been considered an integral part of cancer care for adults and children, offering supportive care from the time of diagnosis, through treatment and into survivorship and end-of-life-care. Since 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has irrevocably changed the way music therapy services are conceptualised and provided in two cancer hospitals in Melbourne, Australia. A cancer diagnosis can mean many visits to hospital or healthcare facilities for diagnostic procedures such as scans;treatments and therapies including surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, clinical trials, and transplants;monitoring and review by a multidisciplinary team;as well as access to psychological and other support services for patients and their carers and families (Jazieh et al., 2021). Since 2020, people living with cancer have become one of the largest healthcare cohorts to face significant impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic (Williamson et al., 2020). Practically, these changes included reconfiguring of cancer services to reduce the numbers of people attending hospitals;patients attending hospital alone whenever possible;wearing of personal protective equipment (PPE) including facemasks for all clinical interactions;social distancing from patients;and transferring face-to-face care to telehealth and online platforms. Each centre is funded through the Victorian public health system and philanthropy, and offers a wide range of speciality and state-of-the-art services incorporating cancer care, research, clinical trials, and wellness and supportive care programs.