NCT02754908

Effectiveness of Musical Training in Children Surviving Brain Tumours

Effectiveness of Musical Training in the Improvement of the Neurocognitive Function and Psychological Well-being of Children Surviving Brain Tumours

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 60 (actual)
• Sponsor: The University of Hong Kong · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 7 Years – 19 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

This study aims to examine the effects of musical training on improving the neurocognitive function and psychological well-being of children surviving brain tumours. Half of the participants will receive weekly 45-minute lessons on musical training for one year (52 weeks) while the other half are the placebo controls.

Detailed description

Children surviving brain tumours have the highest risk of suffering neurocognitive late effects, such as impairment of intellectual development and deficits in attention and concentration, working memory, processing speed and executive function. Such effects severely affect their levels of academic achievement, psychosocial function and quality of life. Musical training is considered to have potential for treating neurocognitive impairment,mostly because the extensive brain networks engaged in musical training can induce substantial neuroplasticity changes in cortical and subcortical regions of motor, auditory and speech processing networks. A review of musical training for neuro-rehabilitation revealed that it can enhance motor recovery and neuroplasticity after stroke and improve motor deficits observed in Parkinson's disease. A growing body of evidence points to the beneficial effects of musical training on the cognitive development of children. The results of a longitudinal study on the effects of musical training on children's brain and cognitive development demonstrated that such training results in long-term enhancement of visualspatial, verbal and mathematical performance. Moreover, engaging in musical practice in childhood predicts academic performance and IQ at the university level. Thus, there appears to be some support for the effects of music lessons on intellectual development. Nevertheless, although musical training is popular and is considered to be a beneficial intervention in the treatment of neurocognitive impairment, longitudinal studies that examine the efficacy of music-making in clinical settings are limited. Importantly, there is to date no study that examines the effects of musical training on induction of neuroplasticity in childhood cancer survivors with neurocognitive impairment. There is an imperative need for rigorous empirical scrutiny of the ability of musical training, in particular, to achieve neuroplasticity and thus promote the cognitive function and psychological well-being of children surviving brain tumours.

Conditions

• Brain Neoplasms
• Child

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	musical training	The subjects in the experimental group will receive weekly 45-minute lessons on musical training for one year (52 weeks), conducted by the Music Children Foundation.
BEHAVIORAL	tutoring classes	They will be invited to attend free, weekly 45-minute tutoring classes organised by the community for one year (52 weeks).

Timeline

• Start date: 2016-01-01
• Primary completion: 2018-06-30
• Completion: 2018-06-30
• First posted: 2016-04-28
• Last updated: 2019-02-28

Locations

1 site across 1 country: China