Abstract
Aims. This article is a report of a trial protocol to determine if improvizational music
therapy leads to clinically significant improvement in communication and interaction
skills for young people experiencing social, emotional or behavioural problems.
Background. Music therapy is often considered an effective intervention for young
people experiencing social, emotional or behavioural difficulties. However, this
assumption lacks empirical evidence.
Study design. Musicinmindisamulti-centredsingle-blindrandomizedcontrolledtrial
involving 200 young people (aged 8–16 years) and their parents. Eligible participants
willhaveaworkingdiagnosiswithintheambitofInternational ClassificationofDisease
10 Mental and Behavioural Disorders and will be recruited over 15 months from six
centres within the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services of a large health and
social care trust in Northern Ireland. Participants will be randomly allocated in a 1:1
ratio to receive standard care alone or standard care plus 12 weekly music therapy
sessions delivered by the Northern Ireland Music Therapy Trust. Baseline data will be
collectedfromyoungpeopleandtheirparentsusingstandardizedoutcomemeasuresfor
communicative and interaction skills (primary endpoint), self-esteem, social functioning,
depressionandfamilyfunctioning.Follow-updatawillbecollected1and13 weeks
afterthefinalmusictherapysession.Acost-effectivenessanalysiswillalsobecarriedout.
Discussion. This study will be the largest trial to date examining the effect of music
therapy on young people experiencing social, emotional or behavioural difficulties and
will provide empirical evidence for the use of music therapy among this population.
Trial registration. This study is registered in theISRCTNRegister,ISRCTN96352204.
Ethical approval was gained in October 2010.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 2349-2358 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Journal of Advanced Nursing |
Volume | 68 |
Issue number | 10 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Oct 2012 |
Bibliographical note
Impact Factor 1.53, Q1, Nursing, Cited x3ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Nursing(all)