The Responses of Hospitalized Medical Patients to Music Therapy

Abstract

The general medical hospital offers un usually varied opportunities for music therapy. Patients coping with severe ill ness or injury often have both psycho logical and physical needs that can be ministered to by a music therapist. Des pite this potential, the practice of music therapy in a medical setting has been ex tremely limited. This article, a report of a questionnaire study of the effects of music therapy on hospitalized medical patients, is intended as a first step toward reversing that trend. Background Research Literature on music therapy with hos pitalized medical patients is scarce. Four major indexes ’ cited only two articles on music therapy in a general hospital set ting (Munro and Mount, 1978; Robin son, 1962). A third report on music therapy and burn patients has just recently appeared (Christenberry, 1979). The dearth of literature accurately re flects the clinical situation. Three surveys over the last 15 years have indicated a decline in the number of music therapists practicing in general hospitals. In a review of facilities employing Na tional Association for Music Therapy (NAMT) members, only 3 percent worked in a general hospital (Michel, 1965). Braswell, Maranto, and Decuir (1979) did not even include general or medical hospitals in listing areas of prac tice for registered music therapists, sug gesting that the numbers they found in those areas were insignificant. The cate gory was also missing from NAMT membership data collected from 1978 t