Music making for health, well-being and behaviour change in youth justice settings: a systematic review

Abstract

Youth justice is an important public health issue. There is growing recognition of the need to adopt effective, evidence-based strategies for working with young offenders. Music interventions may be particularly well suited to addressing risk factors in young people and reducing juvenile crime. This systematic review of international research seeks to contribute to the evidence base on the impact of music making on the health, well-being and behaviour of young offenders and those considered at risk of offending. It examines outcomes of music making identified in quantitative research and discusses theories from qualitative research that might help to understand the impact of music making in youth justice settings.

The Arts of Desistance: Assessing the Role of Arts-based Programmes in Reducing Reoffending

“…Again, these are all significant threats to the validity of causal inferences (for pertinent discussions, see Hughes ; Miles and Clarke ; Daykin et al . ).…”

Subjective well-being and engagement in arts, culture and sport

“…Using UK case study evidence, Creech et al (2013) report positive effects from active music-making among the elderly which provides a sense of purpose, autonomy and social interaction. Meanwhile, Daykin et al (2013) consider impacts of music on young offenders through a systematic literature review. Positive associations are present, but results are not conclusive.…”

“…Positive associations are present, but results are not conclusive. Both Creech et al (2013) and Daykin et al (2013), though, are limited in their narrow focus as they pertain only to specific groups of individuals and activities.…”

Music‐making for health and wellbeing in youth justice settings: mediated affordances and the impact of context and social relations

“…Music has been used in justice settings for many years, and while some programmes have been subject to limited evaluation, there is a dearth of research that has examined these interventions in depth (Daykin et al . , Miles ). Research is often hampered by institutional challenges including security and risk management protocols that engender complex negotiation with gatekeepers (Miles and Clarke ).…”

“…Hence, music genres often favoured by young people, particularly hip hop and rap, have been associated with misogynist, homophobic, sexist, racist, fundamentalist or criminal values, beliefs and identities (Baker and Homan , de Carlo and Hockman , Daykin et al . , Kubrin , Mahiri and Conner , Miranda and Claes , Tanner et al . ).…”