The purpose of this survey was to assess the relationship between participation in a bilingual therapeutic performance choir and the reported quality of life for persons living with a chronic psychiatric illness. The participants were 16 volunteers who ranged in age from 32-65, had a diagnosis of a major mental illness, and were members of an existing choir within a psychiatric outpatient department of a large urban general hospital. Participants completed a self-reported quality of life questionnaire designed by the researcher using Likert scales, a check list, and qualitative questions. Results demonstrated that aspects of participants' lives that they perceived were most positively affected by choir membership included self-esteem, emotional expression, mood alteration, coping with stress, comfort level within in the group, and the establishment of a regular routine. Implications for the use of choirs as a therapeutic medium and limitations of the study were discussed.
This survey research examined the work lives of music therapists in the United States. With the inclusion of data on salary, workplace and job satisfaction, stress, burnout, and happiness, a comprehensive picture of the working lives of music therapists emerges. On the whole, music therapists appear to be generally happy with their workplace and job conditions and to experience moderate stress and low burnout. Data regarding salaries reveal a complex economic landscape. Although the average full-time salary of a music therapist was $51,099.69, salaries varied widely, with newly credentialed music therapists and those with less than six years of experience reporting lower average salaries. Variations in salaries, stress, burnout, and happiness were also evident across workplaces. Implications for the profession, including advocacy efforts, support for early-career professionals, and additional support for career development, invite further discussion.
This mixed methods study reports levels of work satisfaction of music therapists working in the United States. A total of 1,154 board-certified music therapists completed a 28-question survey focused on their workplace, work, and professional development experiences, along with their levels of stress, burnout, and happiness. Two open-ended questions asked respondents to reflect on their identities as music therapists. Composite work satisfaction scores were subsequently divided into quartiles, characterizing high, moderate, and low work satisfaction groups. Music therapists reporting high work satisfaction indicated significantly higher levels of positive agreement with questions regarding work satisfaction than did music therapists reporting moderate or low work satisfaction. Work satisfaction was also significantly associated with stress, burnout, and happiness. The profiles of music therapists reporting high, moderate, and low work satisfaction were further connected to their identities as music therapists, illuminating the characteristics of music therapists who are thriving, those who are moderately satisfied at work, and those who are struggling. These profiles provide insights into the occupational wellbeing of the profession.
Music and narrative share similar goals – the expression of thoughts, feelings, emotions, and meanings. While narrative may be employed as an oral or literary form, as a research tool, or as a therapeutic technique, music, as an art form, is most often perceived as a performance art or compositional act. Elements of both music and narrative have common ontological roots in human communication and expression. Over the past 50 years, both music and narrative have gained stature as therapeutic practices. The first two parts of this paper will focus on how music may be used to narrate events and to express personal meaning in both art and therapy. The third part will reveal the results of a pilot research study that explored the relationship between verbal narrative and music improvisation in the creation of an autobiography. The subjects (4 music therapists) narrated their autobiography, then improvised on each period (Narrative Improvisation Method – NIM), or performed the tasks in reverse order (Improvisation Narrative Method – INM). Musical and verbal data were analyzed to compare what was evoked in the music and in the narrative. Subjects were interviewed about their experiences in both methods and the interview data were analyzed to gain a deeper understanding of the process. Implications for the development of clinical and research techniques that integrate both verbal and music narration are discussed.
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