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Purpose: To explore adolescent and young adults' (AYAs) experiences with participation in a mindfulness-based music therapy intervention during cancer treatment before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Sixteen young adults (20-39 years old) who received cancer treatment and participated in a mindfulness-based music therapy intervention for anxiety and stress were interviewed using a semistructured interview guide. Interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. The interview guide contained prompts about reasons for joining the study, usual coping strategies, experience with the in-person and virtual delivery formats of the intervention, and suggestions for improvement. Themes were derived from the data using inductive content analysis methods. Results: Findings from the interviews included the following: (1) virtual group participants reported difficulty finding a private place to attend the intervention sessions, (2) participants experienced a sense of relaxation in response to intervention participation, (3) in-person group participants felt a sense of connection to the music and their family members who were present during the intervention, while virtual group participants felt a sense of connection to mindfulness, (4) virtual group participants reported that practicing music and mindfulness together was synergistic, and (5) in-person intervention delivery was preferred to virtual intervention delivery. Conclusion: This study provides insight into the contextual factors that impact satisfaction with the intervention and the effect of the intervention on anxiety and stress. Overall, while virtual mindfulness-based music therapy delivery may be more feasible, there are still important advantages to in-person delivery that should be considered in the design of future mindfulness-based music therapy interventions. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03709225.

Objectives: Breast cancer treatment leaves breast cancer survivors (BCS) with an array of lasting side effects, including persistent postsurgical pain (PPSP). In this study, we explored the perceptions of BCS with PPSP as they learned Qigong mind-body exercise (QMBE), a multimodal practice rooted in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Methods: Participants included 18 female BCS treated for stage 0-III breast cancer and experiencing PPSP. Participants were taught QMBE over 12 weeks. Semi-structured interviews were conducted before and after the intervention. Results: BCS disclosed a disconnect between mind and body that emerged during treatment. They perceived QMBE as moving meditation, which enabled them to reconnect mind and body, lessen their pain, and make peace with their bodies. Conclusion: These women's experiences both inform the promise of integrating QMBE and related mind-body exercise into PPSP clinical practice guidelines and suggest new areas of research regarding the role of multimodal interventions for holistic healing in BCS.

High-dose chemotherapy with stem cell support is associated with a period of profound thrombocytopenia. During periods of thrombocytopenia, alloreactive antibodies can limit the effectiveness of platelet transfusion. In this institution, women undergoing high-dose chemotherapy with stem cell support for treatment of their ovarian cancer seemed to have a high incidence of panel reactive antibodies (PRA). To evaluate this further, a case-control study was performed comparing pretransplant PRA values in 22 consecutive women undergoing high-dose chemotherapy as intensification therapy for their ovarian cancer and a control group of 51 women receiving similar or identical therapy for their breast cancer. Parity was similar in both groups. Nonparametric t-test comparison of the two groups demonstrated a significantly higher PRA value in women with ovarian cancer compared to those with breast cancer (p = 0.032). Platelet transfusions were more common in women with ovarian cancer as compared to those with breast cancer (5.45/pt and 4.79/pt), although this difference did not reach statistical significance. This finding suggests that alloimmunization may be a more frequent problem in patients with ovarian cancer than in women with breast cancer.