Research Article Music Therapy for Patients Who Have Undergone Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Chelsea G. Ratcliff, 1 Sarah Prinsloo, 2 Michael Richardson, 2 Laura Baynham-Fletcher, 2 Richard Lee, 2 Alejandro Chaoul, 2 Marlene Z. Cohen, 3 Marcos de Lima, 4 and Lorenzo Cohen 2 1 Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77008, USA 2 Department of General Oncology and the Integrative Medicine Program, he University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1400 Holcombe, Unit 462, Houston, TX 77030, USA 3 College of Nursing, he University of Nebraska Medical Center, Room 5071, 985330 Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE 68198-5330, USA 4 Department of Medicine-Hematology and Oncology, University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center, Case Western Reserve University, 11100 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA Correspondence should be addressed to Lorenzo Cohen; lcohen@mdanderson.org Received 13 November 2013; Accepted 24 December 2013; Published 9 January 2014 Academic Editor: David Mischoulon Copyright © 2014 Chelsea G. Ratclif et al. his is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Objectives. his study examines the short- and long-term QOL beneits of a music therapy intervention for patients recovering from hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Methods. Ninety allogeneic HSCT patients, ater transplant, were randomized to receive ISO-principle (i.e., mood matching) based music therapy (MT;  = 29), unstructured music (UM;  = 30), or usual care (UC;  = 31) for four weeks. he ISO principle posits that patients may shit their mood from one state to another by listening to music that is “equal to” the individual’s initial mood state and subsequently listening to music selections that gradually shit in tempo and mood to match the patient’s desired disposition. Participants in MT and UM groups developed two audio CDs to help them feel more relaxed and energized and were instructed to use the CDs to improve their mood as needed. Short-term efects on mood and long-term efects on QOL were examined. Results. MT and UM participants reported improved mood immediately ater listening to CDs; the within-group efect was greater for UM participants compared to MT participants. Participant group was not associated with long-term QOL outcomes. Conclusions. Music listening improves mood acutely but was not associated with long-term beneits in this study. 1. Introduction Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is used to treat a variety of malignant diseases. he procedure is regarded as one of the most diicult oncologic interventions due to the common and intense side efects of high dose chemotherapy and grat-versus-host disease such as organ toxicity (e.g., pulmonary and cardiac), osteoporosis, infec- tion, cataracts, and infertility [1–8]. Not surprisingly, HSCT has been associated with diminished quality of life (QOL), especially in the irst 100 days ater transplant period [2–5]. he period of lowest white blood cell count, nadir, which typically occurs within the irst 30 days ater transplant, has been identiied as the time when patients report the greatest symptom distress [9] although patients may report symptom distress for as long as 3–5 years ater transplant [10]. he acute complications of HSCT may prevent patients from par- ticipating in common symptom management interventions [6]. hus, inding efective methods to alleviate distress and improve coping skills and emotional well-being may improve post-transplant QOL as well as reduce symptom distress [2, 7, 8, 11]. Music therapy, which requires minimal physical exertion, may be an ideal intervention for helping HSCT patients Hindawi Publishing Corporation Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine Volume 2014, Article ID 742941, 9 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/742941