Evaluating TimeLimited Music Therapy Groupwork in Schools

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Evaluating Time-Limited Music Therapy Groupwork
in Schools

• Emma Pethybridge
• NHS Lothian, Youth Music Initiative (Scottish
  Arts Council).
• Emma.Pethybridge_at_nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk

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Why Evaluate?

• Identifying the main aims/benefits of your work
  with a particular client group and its
  relationship to their particular needs
• Finding ways of making the connections between
  the aims and outcomes of your work demonstrable
• Ansdell, Pavlicevic, Proctor (2004)

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Identifying the main aims/benefits with a
particular client group and its relationship to
their particular need

• Groups of 4-6 children attending weekly sessions
  for up to 20 weeks
• Criteria for selection children who would
  benefit from group work aiming to facilitate
  positive change in the areas of communication and
  language skills, social/personal development and
  emotional wellbeing.

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Finding ways of making the connections between
the aims and outcomes of your work demonstrable

• Direct Observation (participant observation)
• Observations in other contexts
• Behaviour checklists completed by
  parents/carers/teachers
• Video recordings (Edited into a DVD)
• Interviews of educational staff directly involved
  in the groups (film crew)
• Questionnaires completed by music specialists and
  instrumental instructors in response to the DVD

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Direct Observation (participant observation)

• Raw response (assessment)
• Personal profile - therapeutic aims agreed
  (therapist - teacher)
• Activities adapted to encourage individual to
  contribute to the group (treatment)
• Outcomes recorded in clinical notes and end of
  project report (discharge)

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Behaviour checklists completed by
parents/carers/teachers
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Interviews of educational staff directly involved
in the groups (film crew)

• Training - experiential learning
• Benefits of music therapy intervention

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Questionnaires - music specialists and
instrumental instructors responses to the DVD

• Music Education
• musical objectives often closely linked to
  curriculum targets and delivered, within
  mainstream education, in larger groups.
• Music Therapy
• objectives could be seen to depend on the
  professional perspective of the clinician and the
  context when assessing the needs of each child.

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Evaluation highlighted..

• Connections between aims and outcomes for
  individuals in group music therapy
• Perceived benefits of music therapy (participant
  observation and behaviour checklists)
• Changes in musical relationships
• Concurrent changes in individuals outside the
  music therapy group work
• Learning outcomes for teachers directly involved
  in the groups
• Some perceived differences between music
  education and therapy

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Bibliography

• Ansdell, G., Pavlicevic, M., Proctor, S., (2004)
  Presenting the Evidence. A Guide for Music
  Therapists Responding to the Demands of Clinical
  Effectiveness and Evidence-Based Practice.
  Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Centre, London..
• East Lothian Council, NHS Lothian and Scottish
  Arts Council Youth Music Initiative (eds) (2007)
  Music Therapy. Working with Groups. East Lothian
  Cormorant Films.
• Leite, T. (2002) Music Therapy for Educators
  Are we Informing or Training?. Unpublished paper
  presented at the 10th World Congress of Music
  Therapy, 2002. Oxford.
• Robertson, J., Pethybridge, E. (2009 awaiting
  publication) Educational Music Therapy
  Theoretical Foundations Explored in Time-Limited
  Group Work Projects with Children, in Karkou V.
  (Ed.), Arts Therapies in Schools Research and
  Practice, Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
• Robertson, J. (2000) An Educational Model for
  Music Therapy The Case for a Continuum. British
  Journal of Music Therapy 14, 1, 41-6.
• Robertson, J. (2006) The Concept of Educational
  Music Therapy Between Intuition and
  Implementation. Unpublished Thesis. Milton
  Keynes Open University.
• Wigram, T. (Ed), Assessment and Evaluation in the
  Arts Therapies Art Therapy, Music Therapy and
  Dramatherapy, Harper House Publications.
• Yin, R. K. (2003) Case Study Research. Design and
  Methods. Sage Publications Inc.
• Yin, R.K. (2003) Applications of Case Study
  Research. Sage Publications Inc.