Background: It is well documented that invasive medical treatment, such as Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant (HSCT), can be stressful and potentially traumatic for children, leading to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or Post Traumatic Stress Symptoms (PTSS) after treatment. Despite this evidence, little is known about the patterns of stress and trauma that develop throughout the HSCT admission.
Purpose: To examine patterns of toxic stress and trauma that develop throughout the pediatric HSCT admission and understand how music therapists, as members of the interdisciplinary psychosocial care team, may proactively intervene to mitigate the impact of traumatic experiences.
Method: A two-phase retrospective longitudinal multi-case design was used with a combination of time series and template analyses.
Sample: The sample included 14 pediatric patients (aged 0-17) undergoing HSCT at a large pediatric hospital in the Midwestern United States.
Findings: The results were identifiable patterns of toxic stress and trauma and a model of care for music therapy that is responsive to the identified patterns.
Keywords: Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation; interdisciplinary care; medical trauma; music therapy.