Background
Psychosocial distress is increasingly recognised as crucial in cancer care; however, Zambia's oncology ecosystem remains under-resourced in culturally responsive mental health support. This ongoing study investigates how individuals with cancer (PwC) at Lusaka's Cancer Diseases Hospital engage Indigenous Musical Arts (IMAs) to manage anxiety and distress induced by their cancer diagnosis.
Methods
Drawing on Indigenous Research Methodologies, the research centres on community-based ceremonies and conversation circles that emphasise relationality, spirituality, and expressive arts. The study adopts a desire-based theoretical framework that reframes research around strength, agency, and cultural resilience. Through the MIECAT method and focusing techniques, participants engage in arts-based storytelling, musicking, and collective reflection.
Preliminary Findings
These ceremonial and narrative practices serve not only to express distress but also to reconstruct meaning, assert identity, and foster relational healing within institutional cancer care settings. Preliminary insights suggest PwC utilise IMAs to promote placemaking, nurture kinship beyond biological ties, and resist clinical objectification. The Indigenous principle of "tilitonse", shared attentiveness, guides both methodology and analysis, reinforcing mutual witnessing and the co-creation of knowledge.
Implications
Participants demonstrate agency by transforming hospital spaces into sites of spiritual anchoring, emotional regulation, and community connection. This study proposes that Indigenous psychosocial innovations, such as Indigenous Musical Arts (IMAs), should be integrated into psycho-oncology frameworks throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Poster findings encompass emerging themes, visual documentation from ceremonies, and implications for patient-led support structures, advocating for healthcare environments that honour Indigenous worldviews and position patients as active meaning-makers.