Research Recap: Music Therapy for Children and their Families in the Hospital
Ever read music therapy research and finish it with no idea what you just read? Been there! Research is foundational to the work music therapists do in evidence-based practice… And it can also be confusing to interpret and apply to music therapy sessions.
Welcome to the first Research Recap! As a current grad student, I’m drowning in research articles. I’ve learned a lot, and I’m so excited to share some of it with you all - whether you’re a fellow music therapist, a student, an intern, or just curious about the field. In these blogs, you’ll find music therapy research summarized in a way that makes sense and sources to dig deeper into the studies that inspired the blog.
As an intern at a children’s hospital, I saw first hand how music therapy can help not only children in the hospital, but how it can also support their families. Hospitalization and medical issues can be stressful and create isolation from the outside world and support systems. Kids deserve to be kids with the chance to heal, play, and grow in the midst of a scary medical environment. And this effort takes a team: families, social workers, child life specialists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, nurses, doctors, healthcare techs… the list goes on! Meeting children’s needs means providing opportunities to heal, relax, and play in lots of creative ways to keep moving, keep learning, keep regulating, and keep connecting. Music therapy can play a really important part in this work!
Music therapists might work with children who have complex medical diagnoses in:
Hospitals
Clinics
Hospice care
These spaces can feel scary to kids. There are lots of sounds, people with scrubs, new medical tests, and big words that make it hard to understand what’s happening. When music therapists come in, we can help to make a not-so-normal situation feel normal through play, self-expression, creativity, and collaboration. We might play a child’s favorite song in a key that matches the beeping of their IV pump so they hear it a little less. We might play instruments together to share the big or small feelings that are happening. We might write a song together about what they’re going through - or about their favorite foods or hobbies that they can’t wait to get back to. Music therapy is a space where kids can connect with something that doesn’t feel medical but still helps them to feel better.
However, music therapists’ work doesn’t just stop there. We also bring the family members into the experience. They’re probably feeling a lot of the stress and uncertainty too. Music gives them an opportunity to connect with the child or adolescent they’re caring for and to express their own experiences.
What does music therapy look like in this work?
Music therapists use music in lots of different ways to support children’s goals and wellbeing. One method is receptive music therapy (Clark et al., 2017; Samadani et al., 2021). In this method, music therapists provide music for listening, stimulation, and mood support. Music therapists might play instruments and/or sing for children and their family members. While doing this, they pay attention to the child’s heart rate, breathing, and body language to adjust the music to help them regulate. This is a common way of using music to offer support, since it can promote relaxation or active attention depending on how it is used (Clark et al., 2017).
Family members can benefit from this too! Engaging in receptive music therapy with their children can help family members and loved ones to connect with them, because music stimulates areas of the brain associated with empathy and connection (Samadani et al., 2021). Music listening can be a meaningful experience to support mood and help children navigate hard feelings when in the hospital (Rodriguez-Rodriguez et al., 2023).
Another way of using music to support wellbeing is through playing familiar songs together with a variety of instruments. In music therapy, children get to be in charge of choices about songs, instruments, how things are played, and what meaning comes out of the process (Rodriguez-Rodriguez et al., 2023). Music therapists can bring lots of different instruments to sessions, including drums, guitar, ukulele, shakers, pianos, and more! All of these options allow children to express themselves through sound and participate in music-making. Music therapists also build up a repertoire of songs from different styles and genres to connect with children and their families through music that is familiar and enjoyable.
Instruments and sounds can be used in other creative ways too! Music therapists and children might explore sounds and instruments together without a clear structure - this is an improvisational method that emphasizes the creative process over the outcome. When doing this with just the child, the music therapist will often reflect the child’s playing to let them be in charge of the music and have freedom to express themselves. In a family session, music therapists might guide the process of improvising a bit to give structure, but the family members can use music and sounds to interact with each other and explore their relationships (Nemesh, 2017).
Creativity and structure come together through compositional methods, which are ways of using music to create songs or artistic products for self-expression and meaning-making (Ghetti, 2024). Songwriting can act as a canvas for children to put their ideas onto and explore. They can share their feelings of being in the hospital. They might add lyrics about things they enjoy or things they miss while they’re away from home. Children might also create videos or recordings of their songs that they can share with their friends and family members to stay connected during their hospitalization. Music therapists can use music recording equipment and digital instruments to support children in getting the sounds just right to express themselves and feel a sense of pride in their accomplishments at a time where their health may impact how they do everyday things.
These are just a few of the ways music therapists can support wellbeing for children and families navigating the hospital environment. Music therapists spend time intentionally learning music and planning for sessions, but we’re also flexible so that we can give children and their families the opportunity to make choices and say “no” to things that don’t feel helpful for them. There are so many benefits that music therapy can offer, like self-expression, coping skills, relaxation, and connection to others. And at the same time, our work doesn’t exist in a bubble! Medical music therapists collaborate with the other members of each child’s care team to make sure that we’re supporting individual goals for healing and wellbeing.
As I reflect on my internship, I continue to be grateful for the opportunity to step into the lives of children and their families navigating some of the most challenging situations they have faced. It’s an honor to do this work and provide care in a space that can feel scary and overwhelming. Pediatric medical music therapists are flexible, creative, empathetic, and motivated to offer the best care possible.
Feel ready to dive in? Check out these sources to learn more about music therapy research with children and their families!
Keep blooming,
Gabi
