Hope and change

In issue 2 of this year, we announced that Grace Thompson agreed to become co-Editor-in-Chief and that Claire Ghetti was stepping down from her role as Associate Editor (Bradt, 2021). Because of these changes, we launched a search for two new Associate Editors and we are excited to announce that Andeline dos Santos and Stine Camilla Blichfeldt-Ærø joined our editorial team. Andeline is Senior Lecturer and Research Coordinator for the School of the Arts at the University of Pretoria (South Africa). Her clinical and research expertise is in music therapy with high school students. She recently published an article about her research in our journal (dos Santos, 2020). Stine is a music therapy clinician at Oslo University Hospital, Division of Paediatric and Adolescent Medicine and is part-time instructor in the Master’s program in music therapy at the Norwegian Academy of Music. Stine brings medical music therapy expertise to our team and has a special interest in discursive differences and challenges, on a philosophical, practical and academic level. We would like to thank Jason Butler, Editor of The Arts in Psychotherapy, for his time and valuable feedback as external member of our search committee.

In addition, we would like to inform you about recent changes in our Advisory Editorial Board (AEB). Several AEB members rotated off the board after many years of service. We would like to sincerely thank them for their guidance and input during the past years: Drs. Jos De Backer, Cheryl Dileo, Denise Grocke, Helen Odell-Miller, Clare O’ Callaghan, Paul Nolan and Barbara Wheeler. We are happy to welcome several new AEB members: Dr. Kana Okazaki-Sakaue from Kobe University (Kobe, Japan), Dr. Sumathy Sundar from Chennai School of Music Therapy (Chennai, India) and Ga Eul Yoo from Ewha Womans University (Seoul, Republic of Korea).

In this issue, we are delighted to include six research papers and one book review. The first two research papers collected important data about community understandings of music therapy and the growth of the profession in two countries for the first time. Karulkar, Gunjawate and Sundar (p. xx) conducted a survey of parents in India whose children access special education and therapy services to better understand parents’ awareness and knowledge of music therapy. They note that India has a long history of health and healing practices that include various music experiences, and yet there are still only small numbers of certified music therapists practicing in the country. This is the first survey of its kind in India, and therefore provides important insights into the professional standing of music therapy and the potential demand for future services. Seventy-five percent of respondents wished to include music therapy in their child’s therapy services, citing that their child loves music and other professionals and parents had recommended music therapy to them. It seems that the desire to engage in creative experiences that are aligned with their child’s interests are a key part of the motivation for parents to consider including music therapy in their child’s therapy schedule. However, parents’ understanding of the scope of music therapy practice was limited to emotional development and music skills. Karulkar and colleagues sensitively acknowledge the importance of improving access to services and information about music therapy to a greater diversity of families, not just those with higher levels of education and income.

From India, with a population of 1.38 billion, the next study takes us to the Czech Republic, with a population of 10.7 million. Kantor, Karkou, Chráska, Duhovská, Fitzthum, Gerlichová, Kaczynski, Stachyra, Voigt and Kantorová (p. xx) report on their first of its kind study which aimed to describe the current state of music therapy in the Czech Republic compared to other arts therapies. The last 30 years have seen a substantial growth in the music therapy profession in the Czech Republic, with the first Master’s degree program commencing in 2018. The authors include a fascinating narrative introduction to the development of the profession. After the 1989 revolution, music therapists from abroad were able to visit the Czech Republic, and there was an influx of new ideas and approaches. The study data reveal that music therapists in the Czech Republic are more likely to be employed in social care services and educational institutions than health services, compared to their arts therapies colleagues. Following the music therapy profession’s strong early alignment with psychodynamic theories, this study suggests that music therapists are now more likely to align with humanistic frameworks. This interdisciplinary research team further advocates for more collaborative lobbying efforts between music therapy and other arts therapies associations in order to open up new opportunities in health services.

The next series of papers address the health and wellbeing of older adults through engagement in music experiences. Lee, O’Neill and Moss (p. xx) undertook a very topical project exploring facilitators’ experiences of online, dementia-inclusive, group-singing programs in Ireland. Research in this area is still emerging, and therefore this qualitative study provides important insights into the considerations for online facilitation and accessibility (Cephas et al., 2022). During the COVID-19 pandemic, older adults have been amongst the most socially isolated community members in many countries. Keeping older adults safe by limiting social interactions came at the cost of a loss of community, recreation and occupation. The findings reveal that the facilitators’ flexibility and creativity resulted in innovative adaptions and options for engagement with music that promoted inclusivity for those older adults who have difficulty with travelling even when there are no restrictions. However, the resources required for successful online participation were beyond many of the older adults. Facilitators described the importance of building confidence and knowledge amongst their singing group members to improve their technology skills. Despite these challenges, the weekly gatherings provided structure to the participants’ week and allowed people to continue their relationship with music and with community members.

García-Valverde, Badia & Orgaz (p. xx) take a different approach to addressing the health and wellbeing of older adults by considering how songwriting can support the self-care of family members caring for a person living with dementia. The authors acknowledge the complexity of the concept of self-care and propose a conceptual framework for this multidimensional phenomenon. The conceptual framework for group therapeutic songwriting highlights that self-care is a process, involving respite from the caregiver identity, exploration of emotions, transformation and new meanings, and empowerment and achievement. Coming together as a group of family caregivers to engage in a creative process is viewed as fostering belonging, trust and creative authenticity. The creation of lyrics and music in a group setting is described as supporting all aspects of the proposed conceptual framework.

Campbell and Wosch (p. xx) present a protocol for a planned randomized controlled trial that will investigate the effects of active music therapy, receptive music therapy and standard care for older adults with dementia living in German care homes. Within this trial, receptive music therapy includes vibroacoustic therapy, hypothesized to induce a relaxation response, and therefore alleviate anxiety and aggression in the participants. Vibroacoustic therapy, which in this study comprises tactile low frequency sound vibration coupled with the person’s preferred music within the context of a therapeutic relationship, has rarely been investigated. This paper highlights the careful planning and rationale that underpins pragmatic trials (Bradt, 2021), while also providing a fascinating insight into how to plan for a flexible and person-centred approach to an intervention.

Following the previous three manuscripts that focused on the health and wellbeing of older members of our communities, Carvalho, Ricon, Gameiro & Rodrigues (p. xx) evaluate an infant’s responses to maternal singing in the prenatal period through to the first three months of life. Building on previous research that indicates prenatal singing promotes mother--infant bonding after birth, this single case study takes a micro look at the infant’s responsiveness during an ultrasound at 33 weeks gestation, and then at nine days and three months of age. In addition, changes in the mother’s expressiveness and spontaneity during singing, and the prosodic quality of the mother’s voice while speaking to her infant were analyzed. The novelty of capturing infant responses in utero at 33 weeks gestation opens up many possibilities for future research. The authors propose that singing to the infant during the ultrasound procedure, seeing how their infant responds, and then singing further in response to the infant’s movements, could play a vital role promoting prenatal bonding.

Lastly, this issue concludes with a book review of Tia DeNora’s “Hope – The dream we carry” by Even Ruud (p. xx). Ruud powerfully notes that hope is central to processes of change that characterise music therapy. Each of the research articles in this issue could be viewed from the perspective of hope, as the authors invite readers to consider how musicking in our communities and therapy contexts might promote positive change in people’s lives.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.