Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Music Therapy Readings Music Therapy Readings
Music Therapy Readings Music Therapy Readings
Referral
o First step in treatment process = referral; facilitates access to
health care providers
o Requests for services may come from physicians,
psychologists, OT’s, PT’s, SLP’s, teachers, parents, social
workers, clients themselves
o Hospital setting – referral for MT; by physician
o School setting – referral for MT; parents, school psychologist,
interdisciplinary team (IEP)
o Nursing home – referral for MT; staff member, physician, family
member, activity director
Donna cont’d
Physician administers medical exam to see if any tissue damage
Psychologist conducts evaluation to identify psychological factors
(depression/personality traits)
PT assesses functional movements
OT reviews assessment of everyday activities
Social worker interviews her to learn about lifestyle/interests prior to
onset of back pain
Assessments identify dance & music have had important role in
Donna’s life therefore music therapy is identified as important
treatment
Assessment
Assessment Tools
Good assessments = reliable and valid
Reliability consistency with which test measures
behaviour/behaviours
Validity how well a test measures what it is supposed to measure
Music therapy assessments have been published for use with
variety of pops
o Developmental disabilities
o Children in spec. ed.
o Behavioural-emotional disorders
o Hospitalized children
o Hospice patients
o Older adults
Drawbacks
o Reliability and validity have not been fully established
Treatment Plan
Once initial assessment data is gathered & analyzed, next step =
establish treatment plan
Multidisciplinary each team member focuses on & reports in team
meetings on particular aspects of client’s needs closest to their
disciplinary scope of practice
Documentation of Progress
Monitoring progress through therapeutic process=most important
thing
Objectives= what client needs to do to meet the treatment goal
Baseline measure= important to maintain; indicates severity & is
reference point
Organization must maintain accurate & complete records on diagnosis,
treatment, and care of clients (legal document)
Submission of regular & accurate written reports is a fundamental
responsibility of ALL music therapists
o Contain: assessment data, goals, objectives, treatment plans,
progress notes, final report @ discharge
o Must be non-judgemental, objective terminology
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism; inclusive term, addresses awareness and sensitivity
to one’s culture and issues of disability, feminism, gender constructs,
race and religion
Survey conducted in 2000 by American Association of Music Therapy;
showed “our profession is not representative of the current racial,
ethnic, and gender demographic of our country”
o Dominated by white women
1990; showed early indications of slow-growing awareness of cultural
differences
Cultural awareness impacts music therapy on many levels, from that of
global interactions to training, to establishment of therapeutic
relationship
Issues clinically; communication problems, ignorance, ethnocentric
attitudes, power dynamics, misunderstandings
Multiculturalism is a difficult aspect to address in clinical practice
o Therapist must have clear comprehension of own culture, values
& beliefs and also develop understanding of client’s culture
o Therapist cannot know and understand every culture
encountered in clinical practice; challenge
Additional area of concern; how music therapy spread and developed
around the world
o Western ideas were imported into non-Western countries; these
formed the basis on clinical work in those countries
Models of Practice
Clinical work in music therapy & models of practice have evolved from
client needs, philosophical and theoretical environments,
governmental systems, economic demands, and societal pressures
1984; Maranto identified over 100 models in use worldwide
Clinical practice develops in response to client needs
Economics have influenced which models of practice thrive
Societal developments are another element that has implications for
developments of models of practice
Economics
Any music therapist who works in private practice is very aware of how
economics influence clinical work on a very pragmatic level
Clear example of effect of economics on healthcare provision has been
the development of evidence-based practice
o Factors outside of healthcare (e.g., insurance companies) saw in
evidence-based practice a way to measure service effectiveness
and determine where and how to spend money
o Procter (2011) proposed the adoption of social capital theory as
a basis for music therapy – this theory allows for the full breadth
of music therapy practice to be seen as being economically
viable
Societal Changes
Bunt & Stige (2014) – said that “areas of practice are shaped not only
by the possibilities of the profession but also by the needs and
structure of a society”
o Profession itself is shaped b society’s needs and by society itself
o Development of music therapy as a profession occurred due to
opportunities created by society as well as the social evolution of
concept of “professions”
o Music therapy’s growth has continued to mirror changes in
society
o US; prevalence of behavioural music therapy in 1960s and 70s is
reflective of the then dominance of behavioural psychology in
healthcare and education
Social advancement that has influenced music therapy = the rise of
technology
o Affected both clinical work and research
o Neurological music therapy research uses technical apparatus
such as EEGS an fMRIs to understand how rhythm affects brain
and CNS
o Poor concentration
o Poor attention
o Limitations in planning & organizational skills
o Limitations in problem solving, initiation and abstract thinking
o Inability to learn new information
o Perseverative tendencies
Music Composition
Often the music is created after at least some of the lyric creation has
been completed
At the start of the songwriting process, clients are given the option of
writing their own music or using music to a familiar song of their choice
to white their own lyrics (SPT)
SPT= useful when clients feel daunted by idea of writing music for their
song
Conclusions
Song parody, fill in the blank, song collage, use of rhyme
appropriate strategies to manage cognitive deficits
Can also be used to encourage creation of lyrics that express feelings
use of samples, loops, and pre-programmed accompaniment styles
within music software programs and modern electric keyboards can be
used effectively to create genre-specific effects
music therapists working in rehabilitation must be flexible, creative
and adaptive in their therapeutic approach to songwriting