Music therapy with children who have been exposed to ongoing child abuse and poverty: A pilot study

Abstract

The purpose of this pilot study was to determine both the feasibility and effects of music therapy on children who have been exposed to ongoing child abuse and poverty in South Korea. Four out of the 42 children, who had been identified as being exposed to the ongoing child maltreatment and poverty with marked behavioural problems, were randomly selected to receive once a week individual music therapy for 15 consecutive sessions. Both standardized measurements and behavioural observation were used to establish the effects and feasibility of music therapy. While the descriptive statistics for the mean scores of the pooled results were considerably reduced after music therapy in every measure, indicating overall improvements in both internalizing and externalizing behavioural problems, there was a conspicuous variability in individual scores that contradicted the group results. Effect sizes of change scores for most sub-scales were medium to large, however these were non-significant. The preferred musical activities of the children were recorded, as well as their behavioural and musical characteristics. The overall quantitative and observational findings are generally in support of music therapy intervention for children in this study, highlighting the importance of careful consideration for both the implementation of music therapy programmes and the interpretation of results.