Abstract
Background: In pediatric health care, non-pharmacological interventions such as music therapy have promising potential to complement traditional medical treatment options in order to facilitate recovery and well-being. Music therapy and other music-based interventions are increasingly applied in the clinical treatment of children and adolescents in many countries world-wide. The purpose of this overview is to examine the evidence regarding the effectiveness of music therapy and other music-based interventions as applied in pediatric health care. Methods: Surveying recent literature and summarizing findings from systematic reviews, this overview covers selected fields of application in pediatric health care (autism spectrum disorder; disability; epilepsy; mental health; neonatal care; neurorehabilitation; pain, anxiety and stress in medical procedures; pediatric oncology and palliative care) and discusses the effectiveness of music interventions in these areas. Results: Findings show that there is a growing body of evidence regarding the beneficial effects of music therapy, music medicine, and other music-based interventions for children and adolescents, although more rigorous research is still needed. The highest quality of evidence for the positive effects of music therapy is available in the fields of autism spectrum disorder and neonatal care. Conclusions: Music therapy can be considered a safe and generally well-accepted intervention in pediatric health care to alleviate symptoms and improve quality of life. As an individualized intervention that is typically provided in a person-centered way, music therapy is usually easy to implement into clinical practices. However, it is important to note that to exploit the potential of music therapy in an optimal way, specialized academic and clinical training and careful selection of intervention techniques to fit the needs of the client are essential.
Highlights
Music therapy is an evidence and art-based health profession which uses music experiences within a therapeutic relationship to address clients’ physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs [1].A recent worldwide survey among professional members of organizations affiliated with the WorldFederation of Music Therapy (n = 2495) revealed that music therapists mainly worked in mental health settings, schools, geriatric facilities, and private practice [2]
Therapy with children and adolescents constitutes a huge andthere important part of therapy practice when compared to music therapy with adults—and more rigorous research is needed
We included a total of 13 systematic reviews/meta-analyses—published within the last five years—across the following fields of pediatric health care: autism spectrum disorder (2); disability (1); epilepsy (1); mental health (2); neonatal care (3); neurorehabilitation (1); pain, anxiety, and stress in medical procedures (2); pediatric oncology and palliative care (1)
Summary
Music therapy is an evidence and art-based health profession which uses music experiences within a therapeutic relationship to address clients’ physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs [1]. Music therapy with children and adolescents constitutes a huge and important part of developmental disabilities, and depressive disorder are amongst the top three. Music music therapy practice since the beginnings of the profession, is a dearth ofmusic scientific evidence—. Therapy with children and adolescents constitutes a huge andthere important part of therapy practice when compared to music therapy with adults—and more rigorous research is needed. The purpose of therapy this overview is to examine therigorous evidenceresearch regarding the effectiveness of music compared to music with adults—and more is needed. The purpose of this overview is to examine the evidence regarding therapy and other music-based interventions as applied in pediatric health care
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