Mapping family involvement in music therapy for children and adolescents with cancer: a scoping review.

Children and adolescents undergoing cancer treatment, along with their families, experience psychological and emotional distress. Music therapy is increasingly acknowledged as an intervention that may foster emotion regulation, coping, and communication; however, family involvement remains insufficiently delineated. This scoping review maps evidence on family involvement in music therapy for paediatric oncology, characterises the forms and intensity of participation, summarises intervention features and reported outcomes, and identifies limitations and research gaps. Following PRISMA-ScR guidelines, a systematic search was conducted in PSYNDEX, PubMed, The Cochrane Library, and Embase (2010-2025). Studies were eligible if they examined music therapy interventions or structured music-therapy-based interventions in paediatric oncology and involved family members at any level of participation. Eighteen studies met the inclusion criteria and were synthesised descriptively. Across the studies, reported outcomes included reductions in anxiety, stress, and pain, as well as improvements in mood, quality of life, and family interaction. Family involvement ranged from primarily observational and reflective roles to direct participation in shared music-making and, in some cases, therapist-guided parent-led facilitation. Interaction-focused and parent-directed approaches were most often described as supporting emotional connectedness, shared coping, and family resilience. Methodological heterogeneity, small sample sizes, and inconsistent conceptualisations of family involvement limited comparability. The reviewed literature suggests that family involvement in music therapy may support psychosocial well-being and relational functioning within paediatric oncology. However, the available evidence is heterogeneous and primarily descriptive. Future research would benefit from clearer conceptualisations of family involvement and more methodologically comparable studies to clarify mechanisms of change and long-term effects.