Future music therapy programming and research for adults with substance use disorders: A reflexive thematic analysis of service user recommendations

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Music therapy (MT) can be beneficial regarding craving, motivation, and treatment readiness for adults with substance use conditions (SUC). However, there is a lack of literature investigating service users’ preferences and recommendations regarding MT programming and research. Informed by the recovery movement and evidence-based practice, the purpose of this study was to understand the preferences and recommendations for future MT programming and research of adults with SUC.

Method

Author 1 provided 24 group recreational MT and songwriting sessions to adults with SUC in a detoxification unit. Author 2 then individually interviewed 46 participants who volunteered to share their perspectives and recommendations regarding future music therapy programming and research. We used an inductive approach to reflexive thematic analysis to analyze data and had a music therapist provide trustworthiness to ensure our findings were credible.

Results

We organized 12 subthemes into four major themes that described participants’ preferences and recommendations for future MT programming and research for people with SUC: Unit factors; The holistic nature of addiction; MT factors; and Research factors. Findings provided situated context regarding recommendations for MT programming, what to investigate, and how to best conduct the research.

Discussion

As participants had the lived experience of a SUC and had experienced MT, their recommendations can provide a framework for MT programming and different methods for how to conduct MT research. Implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research are provided.

KEYWORDS:

• Addiction
• substance use
• music therapy
• future research
• qualitative, interpretivist
• programming

Acknowledgements

We express our appreciation to the participants who graciously shared their perspectives, experiences, and time with us.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/08098131.2024.2369054

Notes

¹ We use the broad and non-descript term “service users” to describe people who have SUC who may be living in the community or residing in treatment facilities. “Service users” does not imply a business relationship (i.e. clients, consumers), medically oriented patriarchal power hierarchy (i.e. patients), or that people are broken and in need of fixing (i.e. mental illnesses, mental disorders).

² As the study took place in an inpatient hospital unit, people on the unit were referred to as patients.

³ Participants often indicated that they had multiple mental health conditions, so these data do not always add up to the 46 participants.

⁴ https://www.ted.com/talks/johann_hari_everything_you_think_you_know_about_addiction_is_wrong.

Additional information

Funding

This project was funded with a Grant in Aid from the Office of the Vice President for Research at the University of Minnesota.

Notes on contributors

Michael J. Silverman

Michael J. Silverman is the Music Therapy Program Director at the University of Minnesota.

Elijah Y. Levy

Elijah Y. Levy is a graduate student at the University of Minnesota.