Music and VR Effects on Pain, Anxiety, and Fear During Oral Mucositis Care in Leukaemic Children

Summary

Children undergoing leukaemia treatment are exposed to a wide range of chemotherapeutic agents and immunosuppressive therapies during treatment and are therefore at great risk for complications. Mucositis is one of the leading chemotherapy-related complications affecting the quality of life of the child. Although it varies according to the degree of mucositis, oral mucosal erythema, white plaques and ulcers are extremely painful and traumatising procedures for pediatric patients during mucositis care. The pain and fear they experience during the procedure may lead children to delay/not perform oral mucositis care or not allow their parents to do so. Since mucositis is a painful condition in children, it is recommended to use distracting nonpharmacological methods that can help reduce the pain and fear of children during mucositis care. In this context, the aim of this study was to determine the effects of music and virtual reality on pain, anxiety and fear during oral mucositis care in children aged 6-12 years receiving leukaemia treatment. Block randomisation (gender (F/M) and age groups (6-9/10-12) will be used to identify participants. Five minutes before the oral mucositis care procedure, all participants, regardless of group, will be assessed with the Child Anxiety Scale-Disposition (CAS-D), Child Fear Scale and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). The study will be conducted in three groups as control group, VR group and music group. Descriptive characteristics of dependent and independent categorical variables will be given as number and percentage, numerical descriptive characteristics will be given as mean and standard deviation. In examining the relationship between dependent and independent variables, Mann Whitney-Kruskal Wallis or Student t-Anova analyses will be performed according to the result of the analysis of conformity to normal distribution. Bonferroni analysis will be used for pairwise comparisons and Covariance analysis will be used to investigate the effect of variables with children.

Conditions

• Anxiety
• Pain
• Fear

Interventions

PROCEDURE

Music intervention

The music for the study will be the 'MusiCure® 9 Scandinavia' compositions specially developed by Inge Eje and Niels Eje (Gefion Records, Copenhagen, Denmark) (MusiCure, 2024). The compositions include melodies with harp, cello, strings and sounds from nature (birds, forest and night sounds) in a soft rhythm between 60-80 bpm for relaxation, based on research into the acoustic environment of hospitals and shown to have a positive effect on patients' symptoms such as pain, fear and anxiety. Two minutes after the child starts listening to the music, oral mucositis care will be started. Five minutes after the end of the procedure, the Child Anxiety Scale-Conditioning (CAS-D), Child Fear Scale and Visual Comparison Scale will be applied and the duration of the procedure will be recorded.

PROCEDURE

Virtual reality

In this group, children will be shown a short film with virtual reality glasses. In the study, the short film 'MusiCure® The Journey' specially developed by Inge Eje and Niels Eje (Gefion Records, Copenhagen, Denmark) will be preferred in the virtual reality group. The duration of the film is 16 minutes (MusiCure, 2024). Two minutes after the child starts watching the film, oral mucositis care will be started. Five minutes after the end of the procedure, the duration of the procedure will be recorded by applying the Child Anxiety Scale-Conditioning (CAS-D), Child Fear Scale and Visual Comparison Scale.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Ege University

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

6 Years

Max Age

12 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2026-12-01

Primary Completion

2027-09-01

Completion

2027-12-01

Countries

• Turkey (Türkiye)

Study Locations