Why Music Therapists Choose to Work with a Clinical Population: An International Pilot Survey

Avi Gilboa, Chava Wiess, Ayelet Dassa, Melissa-Mercadal Brotons, Eva Frank-Bleckwedel, Elisabeth Kaczynski, Jiri Kantor, Beate Roelcke and Patricia Sabbatella
Additional contact information
Avi Gilboa: Music Department, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 5290002, Israel
Chava Wiess: Arts Therapy Department, Music Therapy Program, David Yellin College of Education, Jerusalem 9434518, Israel
Ayelet Dassa: Music Department, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 5290002, Israel
Melissa-Mercadal Brotons: Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya, Universitat Ramon Llull, 08013 Barcelona, Spain
Eva Frank-Bleckwedel: Institut für Musiktherapie, Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg, 20148 Hamburg, Germany
Elisabeth Kaczynski: EMTC Delegate of Austria, 1120 Vienna, Austria
Jiri Kantor: Center of Evidence-Based Education and Arts Therapies: A JBI Affiliated Group, Institute of Special Education, Sciences, Faculty of Education, Palacký University Olomouc, 779 00 Olomouc, Czech Republic
Beate Roelcke: Department of Music, Zurich University of the Arts, 8005 Zürich, Switzerland
Patricia Sabbatella: Faculty of Sciences Education, University of Cádiz, 11519 Cádiz, Spain

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 15, 1-14

Abstract: (1) Background: Throughout their career, music therapists make decisions regarding the clinical population they choose to work with. Though such decisions can have broad implications on the professional development of the music therapist, not much is known about the reasons for making these decisions and whether they are affected by demographic or professional factors. (2) Methods: In this pilot study, we surveyed 439 music therapists from six countries (i.e., Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Israel, Spain, and Switzerland) using an online questionnaire. We asked the respondents to explain why they chose to work with their main clienteles, and we examined whether their reasons were connected to demographic factors such as country of origin, gender, and seniority, and professional factors such as experience as a music therapist and population one works with. (3) Results: The category analysis of these responses pointed at nine distinct reasons that could be grouped into “practical reasons”, “reasons of connection”, and “innovation”. There were differences in reasoning between music therapists from different countries, and with different degrees of seniority, but not between male and female music therapists. (4) Discussion: The implications on training programs and on policy makers are discussed as well as the importance of this subject to the development of music therapists’ professional identity.

Keywords: music therapy; population choice; clientele; online survey; gender differences; professional identity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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