My Roles: Lead Researcher | Analyst | Writer
Background and Project Description:
In this project we wanted to understand the landscape of “technological” tools used in music therapy (MT) practice, in a way that is situated in a commonly known session progression structure.
MT sessions typically follow a phase progression of Referral, Assessment, Treatment planning, Implementation (In-session), Documentation, Evaluation and Termination of treatment . This was our theoretical framework to classify our data.
We build on prior work to present a contextualized and more in-depth look at technology types that that support MT practice. Gathering data from 104 board-certified music therapists (MT-BCs), we found that planning, documentation and evaluation rely heavily on notetaking and data entry technologies, while assessment and in-session work see a more diverse configuration of technologies spanning music instruments, mixed media & interactive music interfaces and recording technology.
This project is meant to promote agenda-setting critical discussion within MT and cross-disciplinarily with Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) designers to envision the technology that supports music therapists.
Process
We obtained an email list from the Certification Board for Music Therapists (CBMT) and sent an online survey to 1,952 board-certified music therapists (MT-BCs), and received 104 completed surveys back (5.32% response rate).
89.4%
participants were female
90.3%
participants caucassian/white
52.8%
participants had an undergraduate degree
The types of questions in the survey included:
- Demographics and health conditions serviced
- Technologies used for a) Assessment, b) Treatment Planning, c) In-session, d) Progress Documentation, e) Evaluation
- Adjustments to practice after COVID-19
People served by MT-BCs
- MT-BCs serve most age groups from early infants to senior adults.
- A majority of client populations were those living with cognitive, psychological and/or behavioral conditions. This trend was followed by populations in hospice/palliative care, Alzheimer’s and related dementias (ADRD) and those in grief/bereavement.
Defining “Technology” for music therapists
We understand "technology" as any hardware (MIDI controller, Keyboard, tablet, Acoustic guitar, etc.) or software (iPad Apps, DAWs, mobile apps, etc.) that you may use while working with an individual client or a group of clients.
Key themes in the phases of MT
- Assessment is done with the help of diverse tools to observe the client’s capabilities “hands on”. Mostly, music instruments are used to assess, but we also observed note-taking, data entry and file management software, electronic health/medical record (EMR/EHR) software and several tablet applications (e.g. music streaming, digital forms).
- Note-taking, data entry software and online resources (e.g. forms, information) support the definition of treatment plans.
- In-session we see adaptive assembly of musical tools and highly interactive interfaces. Music creation, recording and listening are overarching goals with musical instruments, digital audio workstations (DAWs), streaming apps, music asset management apps, mixed media and interactive music interfaces.
- Documentation and evaluation rely on notes and data, input into EMR/EHR or word processors and spreadsheet applications.
This is an overview of the study, the full paper and a larger discussion of the impact and implications for HCI-MT design is published, and you may read it here.