Comparing Effects of Massage Therapy and Music on Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting in Cancer Children: A Randomized Control Trial

Nausea and vomiting are common complications of chemotherapy.

The present study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of massage and music on chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) in the pediatric oncology ward in 2017.

The present randomized controlled trial used the convenience sampling method, and all samples were randomly assigned to two massage or music therapy groups. Accordingly, all subjects received one massage session and one music session, with one washout session between the two interventions. The severity of nausea and vomiting before, immediately after, and one hour after chemotherapy was assessed using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and after 12 hours using the adapted Rhodes index of nausea and vomiting for pediatrics by child (ARINVC). The collected was analyzed with SPSS software version 18 using the repeated measures analysis of variance, Friedman test, chi-square, Fisher's exact, and independent t-test.

The results showed that nausea and vomiting scores were not significantly different between the two groups (P > 0.05). However, the scores significantly increased in both methods immediately after the intervention, simultaneous with chemotherapy (P < 0.05), and decreased below the baseline; however, they were not significantly different from the pre-intervention scores (P > 0.05). In the second phase, one hour after the intervention, the scores of nausea and vomiting decreased below the baseline, which was significantly different from the pre-intervention scores (P < 0.05).

The massage or music therapy methods revealed no difference in reducing the severity of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in children. Nurses can use non-medicinal methods such as massage and music to reduce the complications of chemotherapy, especially nausea, and vomiting.