Jingjing Song, Yang Zhao, Zijia Zeng, Xu Dong, Chunliu Hou, Xinyue Wang, Yonghe Liu, Junnan Zhao, Yan Li
{"title":"Five-Element Music and VR for Pain and Psychological Distress in Advanced Cancer: A Randomized Trial.","authors":"Jingjing Song, Yang Zhao, Zijia Zeng, Xu Dong, Chunliu Hou, Xinyue Wang, Yonghe Liu, Junnan Zhao, Yan Li","doi":"10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2026.03.020","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Context: </strong>Pain and psychological distress are common and debilitating symptoms in patients with advanced cancer. Non-pharmacological interventions such as Five-Element Music therapy and virtual reality (VR) have shown promise in improving symptom management, but their combined effects remain unclear.</p><p><strong>Objectives: </strong>This study aimed to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of the combination of Five-Element Music and VR in improving pain, anxiety, depression, and sleep quality in cancer patients, as well as its impact on serum β-endorphin (β-EP) and 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) levels, providing an innovative non-pharmacological therapy for cancer patients.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>In this randomized controlled trial, 66 patients were allocated to an experimental group (standard care plus Five-Element Music and VR) or a control group (standard care only). The intervention comprised daily 12-minute sessions over seven consecutive days. Outcomes were analyzed using mixed-design analysis of variance (mixed ANOVA), with time (baseline vs. postintervention) as the within-subject factor and group allocation as the between-subject factor.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Significant time × group interaction effects were found for pain intensity (NRS), anxiety (SAS), depression (SDS), sleep quality (PSQI), and serum 5-HT. The experimental group showed significantly greater improvements over time compared to the control group in all primary and secondary outcomes (P < .05). Although serum β-EP levels increased in both groups over time (P < .001), no significant interaction effect was found. Partial eta squared values indicated moderate to large effect sizes for outcomes with significant interactions.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The combination of Five-Element Music and VR significantly improved pain, anxiety, depression, and sleep quality in patients with advanced cancer, and modulated serum 5-HT levels. These findings support the feasibility and potential efficacy of using this non-pharmacological intervention to manage symptoms in cancer care.</p>","PeriodicalId":16634,"journal":{"name":"Journal of pain and symptom management","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.5000,"publicationDate":"2026-04-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of pain and symptom management","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2026.03.020","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"CLINICAL NEUROLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Context: Pain and psychological distress are common and debilitating symptoms in patients with advanced cancer. Non-pharmacological interventions such as Five-Element Music therapy and virtual reality (VR) have shown promise in improving symptom management, but their combined effects remain unclear.
Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of the combination of Five-Element Music and VR in improving pain, anxiety, depression, and sleep quality in cancer patients, as well as its impact on serum β-endorphin (β-EP) and 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) levels, providing an innovative non-pharmacological therapy for cancer patients.
Methods: In this randomized controlled trial, 66 patients were allocated to an experimental group (standard care plus Five-Element Music and VR) or a control group (standard care only). The intervention comprised daily 12-minute sessions over seven consecutive days. Outcomes were analyzed using mixed-design analysis of variance (mixed ANOVA), with time (baseline vs. postintervention) as the within-subject factor and group allocation as the between-subject factor.
Results: Significant time × group interaction effects were found for pain intensity (NRS), anxiety (SAS), depression (SDS), sleep quality (PSQI), and serum 5-HT. The experimental group showed significantly greater improvements over time compared to the control group in all primary and secondary outcomes (P < .05). Although serum β-EP levels increased in both groups over time (P < .001), no significant interaction effect was found. Partial eta squared values indicated moderate to large effect sizes for outcomes with significant interactions.
Conclusions: The combination of Five-Element Music and VR significantly improved pain, anxiety, depression, and sleep quality in patients with advanced cancer, and modulated serum 5-HT levels. These findings support the feasibility and potential efficacy of using this non-pharmacological intervention to manage symptoms in cancer care.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Pain and Symptom Management is an internationally respected, peer-reviewed journal and serves an interdisciplinary audience of professionals by providing a forum for the publication of the latest clinical research and best practices related to the relief of illness burden among patients afflicted with serious or life-threatening illness.