Music and healing in cancer care: A survey of supportive care providers

This paper explores the role of music activity and music therapy in health care drawing on a survey of UK cancer care providers offering music interventions and music therapy. The survey examined the extent and type of music provision and explored providers’ views about the role and contribution of music and music therapy in healing. As well as music, the survey organisations offered a range of supportive therapies including complementary and alternative therapies (CAM) and creative therapies such as art therapy. The results provide insight into the way in which music and creative therapies are viewed by those responsible for care provision in this sector. The data point towards some of the challenges facing music therapists in the changing world of cancer care. These include responding to changes arising from developments in treatment and the organisation of care as well as increased collaboration with a diverse range of supportive care practitioners. These include providers of music and arts for health activity as well as complementary and alternative therapy practitioners who are increasingly involved in cancer care provision. We discuss the implications of these changes for the development of music therapy in cancer care.     

Music technology usage in music therapy: A survey of practice

The purpose of this study was to determine (a) how many music therapists use music technology in their clinical work, (b) trends regarding music technology usage related to gender, age, and/or geographical location, (c) how music therapists acquire knowledge and/or training in music technology, (d) barriers to using music technology in clinical work, (e) types of music technology music therapists currently use, and (f) why music therapists do or do not use music technology in their clinical practice. Participants (N = 600) completed a 27-question survey with a 95% completion rate. The return rates for participants by country were: (a) US 27%, (b) Australia 6%, (c) Canada 9%, and (d) UK 9%. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses of the data were conducted. A majority of the music therapists surveyed (71%, n = 443) reported using music technology in the clinical setting. Differences in technology usage were found according to age and gender of the participants. Most of the participants reported to be self-taught (61%, n = 464). Results of this study indicated that more training in music technology related to clinical practice is needed, with attention given to ways to make more technology accessible to a variety of learners.     

Guidelines,training, audit,and quality standards in children's epilepsy services: Closing the loop

There has been considerable evolution in epilepsy healthcare for children over the last decade in the United Kingdom. There has been no single explanation for this. The development of national clinical guidelines, locally delivered but nationally designed educational programmes, nation-wide clinical audit, clinical networks and development of designated services have all had complimentary roles in enabling the implementation of national recommendations for the development of epilepsy care. These models may be applicable to other healthcare settings outside the UK.     

Examining roles in children's group therapy: Applying a dramaturgical role instrument to group process

In this group process study of two children's verbal psychotherapy groups in an outpatient clinic, group roles were examined through the development and application of a novel dramaturgical coding instrument and the use of trained raters to analyze videotaped scenes of interaction. Exploratory data analysis was conducted that compared individual members within groups, group-level data between groups, and members who showed clinical change with those who did not. The results suggest the potential utility, for researchers and therapists, of applying dramaturgical roles to group process.     

Music therapy and social justice: A personal journey

This article examines the emergent trend of social justice in music therapy as evidenced across practice, research, and theory. The diverse nature and scope of social justice is reviewed from such varied perspectives as: feminist music therapy, community music therapy, peace activism, and participatory action research, as well as multicultural and empowerment approaches to music therapy. The author's personal journey in social justice is outlined as it unfolds in both personal and professional dimensions, including work in community music therapy with adults with developmental disabilities and work in feminist music therapy with survivors of violence.     

Music therapy: A community approach to social justice

This theoretical paper demonstrates how music therapy—and more specifically, community music therapy (CoMT)—can contribute to social justice. CoMT is a creative approach that the liberates expression, potentially empowering people of all ages, races, and statuses to build a better society. It also reveals how the leadership literature presents the concept of service in addressing social justice and how the fields of psychology and sociology of music shed some light on the use of music for social justice. Finally, future implications for training music therapists for social justice are explored.     

Computer aided music therapy evaluation: Testing the Music Therapy Logbook prototype 1 system

Research indicates that music therapists are likely to make use of computer software, designed to measure changes in the way a patient and therapist make use of music in music therapy sessions. A proof of concept study investigated whether music analysis algorithms (designed to retrieve information from commercial music recordings) can be adapted to meet the needs of music therapists. Computational music analysis techniques were applied to multi-track audio recordings of simulated sessions, then to recordings of individual music therapy sessions; these were recorded by a music therapist as part of her ongoing practice with patients with acquired brain injury.The music therapist wanted to evaluate two hypotheses: one, whether changes in her tempo were affecting the tempo of a patient's play on acoustic percussion instruments, and two, whether her musical interventions were helping the patient reduce habituated, rhythmic patterning. Automatic diagrams were generated that gave a quick overview of the instrumental activity contained within each session: when, and for how long each instrument was played. From these, computational analysis was applied to musical areas of specific interest. The results of the interdisciplinary team work, audio recording tests, computer analysis tests, and music therapy field tests are presented and discussed.     

Gender typicality in children's art development: A cross-cultural study

Gender typicality in children's art development was examined from drawings of a person in an environment. Participants (n = 700) were aged 6–12 (boys, n = 314; girls, n = 386) were from 13 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and Central America. Inclusion of vehicles, weapons, animals, sports, ground line, Lowenfeld's stage of development, and principal color were observed and analyzed. Boys incorporated vehicles, weapons, and sports more than girls. Girls used more colors than boys. Significant differences were found between some subgroups and countries. Overall there was a significant difference by gender in the following categories: inclusion of vehicles of transportation (χ² (1, n = 700) = 16.027, p < .01) with boys including vehicles twice as often as girls, inclusion of weapons, no girls included weapons in their images, though some boys did (χ² (1, n = 283) = 14.317, p < .01), inclusion of images of sports: boys were more likely then girls to include images of sports (χ² (1, n = 700) = 1.562, p < .01); principal color choice was (χ² (3, n = 700) = 8.82, p = .032), with boys more likely to use no color and girls were more likely to use equal amounts of warm and cool colors. The data suggests disparity between ages and stages of Lowenfeld's art development (1987) and adds to information on normative development in art and on gender typicality in drawings cross-culturally.     

Music therapy techniques as predictors of change in mental health care

The application of music in therapy is realised through different working modalities which can be categorised into three types of techniques: production, reception, and reproduction. These techniques are commonly used in mental health settings in music therapy practice and previous research suggests that specific working modalities might be important predictors of change in music therapy. However, little is known about which ingredients specifically contribute to the outcomes of music therapy. This study aimed to investigate the application of music therapy techniques and whether they predict changes in clinical outcomes in mental health settings with individuals displaying a low therapy motivation. Participants (N = 31) were assessed before, during, and after participating in individual music therapy. Music therapy techniques were assessed for three selected therapy sessions per participant. Associations between music therapy techniques and outcomes were calculated using linear models with repeated measures. Results showed that reproduction techniques were used most intensely. In addition, relational competencies (interpersonal and social skills) amongst the participants improved when focusing on reproducing music (e.g. singing or playing familiar songs, learning musical skills). Results indicated that reproduction music therapy techniques may foster the development of relational competencies in individuals with low motivation.     

Women's issues and music therapists: A look forward

This study surveyed 1890 American and Canadian music therapists in order to examine present-day men and women music therapists’ experiences as they compare with each other and as they compare with their 1990 counterparts in terms of their situations, their practices, their approaches, and their personal, work, and family concerns (Curtis, 1990). Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the structured and open-ended survey items revealed commonalities and differences among the 682 respondents. In comparison to their 1990 counterparts, present-day women music therapists are significantly different: they are older, more educated, more often in academic settings, more satisfied with their career choice, and with many different concerns. Present-day men and women respondents’ experiences reflect more commonalities, differing only in that the men are older, more educated, more often in academic settings, and higher paid. The present-day women and men are similar to each other and differ significantly from their 1990 counterparts with 68%, 66%, and 91% respectively feeling that sex discrimination has a general impact. Similarly 31% of the present-day men and 25% of the women are familiar with feminist music therapy, as opposed to 16% in 1990. Present-day men and women music therapists share a passion for their work, with 98% and 95% respectively recommending music therapy careers, as opposed to 56% in 1990.     

Taking gender into account: Brief report on a survey of music therapists’ attitudes to future use of a proposed computer aided evaluation system: The music therapy logbook

Analysis of an international survey of music therapists working in the field of neuro-disability (N = 44) identified differences in attitude between female and male therapists towards future use of a computer-aided recording and analysis system, the main purpose of which is to track changes in a client's and therapist's use of music over time. This article, a follow up report on the original survey ( Streeter, 2010), examines the effects of respondent gender on attitude in order to identify issues that will need to be taken into account during the next phase of research and development. Results indicate that male music therapists may hold more positive opinions about computer-aided practice evaluation than female music therapists. However, the data also shows that female respondents were more concerned than their male counterparts about the ethical and practical issues that might arise if they were to introduce computer-aided evaluation at work. Both genders expressed excitement at the prospect of a specialist system designed to record, store, and quantify changes in music play between a music therapist and a patient.     

Measuring therapy adherence in Parkinson's disease: a comparison of methods

The objective of this study was to assess different methods of measuring therapy adherence in Parkinson's disease (PD). In a single centre observational study, 112 patients with idiopathic PD were randomised to a crossover trial of active monitoring (n = 69, simple tablet count and electronic monitoring), or to no monitoring (n = 43, control group). All patients completed a self report and visual analogue scale (VAS) indicating therapy intake. In the active monitoring group, 56 (81% of cases) used > or = 80% of their medication, and 13 (19% of cases) used <80%, based on electronic monitoring. Median adherence for self report was 100% (interquartile range (IQR) 100 to 100) and for VAS was 100% (IQR 95 to 100), in both active and control groups. Patients taking > or = 80% of prescribed medication had a median total adherence of 98% (IQR 93 to 101) by electronic monitoring, which was similar to that from other METHODS: self report 100%, IQR 100 to 100; VAS 100%, IQR 95 to 100; simple tablet count 98%, IQR 89 to 100. Median total adherence in patients taking <80% of medication was significantly lower by electronic monitoring (69%, IQR 44 to 74) than by other methods: self report 100%, IQR 100 to 100; VAS 100%, IQR 95 to 100; and simple tablet count 90%, IQR 78 to 100 (all p<0.0001). Sensitivities of self report (10%), VAS (17%), and simple tablet count (50%) were all low for detecting suboptimal medicine intake. Self report, VAS, and simple tablet counts are insensitive as predictors of suboptimal medicine usage in PD. How patients take their medicines influences interpretation of the therapy response and consequent management decisions, with implications for clinical trial analysis and clinical practice.     

The role of music therapy in rehabilitation: improving aphasia and beyond

Music is part of the human nature, and it is also philogenically relevant to language evolution. Language and music are bound together in the enhancement of important social functions, such as communication, cooperation and social cohesion. In the last few years, there has been growing evidence that music and music therapy may improve communication skills (but not only) in different neurological disorders. One of the plausible reasons concerning the rational use of sound and music in neurorehabilitation is the possibility to stimulate brain areas involved in emotional processing and motor control, such as the fronto-parietal network.

In this narrative review, we are going to describe the role of music therapy in improving aphasia and other neurological disorders, underlying the reasons why this tool could be effective in rehabilitative settings, especially in individuals affected by stroke.     

Psychosexual therapy in sexualised culture: a systemic perspective

This is an edited version of a presentation given at COSRT Conference on “Psychosexual Therapy in Sexualised Culture”, held in November 2011 in London. The Conference had a particular focus on the impact of sexualised media messages on young people. This paper addresses the issue of “sexualisation” in relation to its problematic definition: the effects of sexualisation and the difficulties with the proposed solutions, which are seen as perpetuating the issues they are trying to resolve. Clinical examples illustrate the effects of cultural imbalance in addressing sex on clients presenting themselves for psychosexual therapy.     

The effect of music therapy sessions on compassion fatigue and team building of professional hospice caregivers

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of music therapy on compassion fatigue and team building of professional hospice workers. Participants were nurses, social workers, and chaplains and were employed for at least one year in hospice care. Seventeen participants engaged in one of two experimental music therapy groups. Experimental group 1 utilized an ecological music therapy approach with an open, free form without structure and encouraged participation in the live music experiences of instrumental improvisation as well as toning and chanting. Experimental group 2 utilized a didactic music therapy approach with a structured format wherein interventions were planned and facilitated by the music therapist a priori. Such interventions included guided meditation with live music, lyric analyses, and music and movement. To measure compassion fatigue, the Compassion Fatigue Scale (CFS) was used as a pre- and post-test measure in each group. To measure team building, the Team Building Questionnaire (TBQ) was used as a pre-and post-test measure in each group. Statistical analyses indicated a significant improvement in team building in both groups but no significant differences with regard to compassion fatigue. Further research studying the effects of music therapy on compassion fatigue and team building of professional hospice caregivers is recommended.