The acceptability of Songs of Love for youth living with chronic pain.

Objectives: Music is helpful to young people in healthcare contexts, but less is known about the acceptability of music-based interventions for youth living at home with chronic pain who may be struggling to attend school and participate in social activities. The Songs of Love (SOL) foundation is a national nonprofit organization that creates free, personalized, original songs for youth facing health challenges. The aims of this study were (1) to assess acceptability of SOL from the perspective of youth with chronic pain receiving a song and singer-songwriters who created the songs, and (2) to explore the role of music more generally in the lives of young people living with pain.

Methods: Twenty-three people participated. Fifteen youth (mean age 16.8) were interviewed and received a song, and six singer-songwriters were interviewed about creating the songs. (Two additional people participated in pilot interviews.) Acceptability was assessed by (1) proportion of youth who participated in a second interview about their song and (2) results of reflexive thematic analysis (RTA) to determine acceptability. Themes addressing the role of music in the lives of youth with pain were also explored using RTA.

Results: The program was acceptable as 12 of 15 youth (80 %) participated in second interviews and themes met the definition of acceptability. Three themes addressing the role of music in the lives of youth living with pain were identified.

Conclusions: This is the first report of the acceptability and experience of SOL and contributes to research on the benefits of music for pain management.