Feasibility of a Trial on Improvisational Music Therapy for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Background: To conduct generalizable, rigorously designed, adequately
powered trials investigating music therapy and other complex interventions,
it is essential that study procedures are feasible and acceptable for
participants. To date, only limited evidence on feasibility of trial designs
and strategies to facilitate study implementation is available in the music
therapy literature.
Objective: Using data from a subsample of a multi-center RCT on improvisational
music therapy (IMT) for autism spectrum disorder (ASD), this
study aims to evaluate feasibility of study procedures, evaluate safety,
document concomitant treatment, and report consistency of individuals’
trends over time in chosen outcome measures.
Methods: Children with ASD aged between 4 years, 0 months, and
6 years, 11 months, were randomly assigned to one of three conditions:
one (low intensity) vs. three weekly IMT sessions (high intensity) for five
months vs. standard care. Feasibility was evaluated by examining recruitment,
implementation of study conditions, assessment procedures, blinding, and retention; we also evaluated safety, concomitant treatment,
and consistency of changes in standardized scales completed by blinded
assessors and parents before and 5 months after randomization.
Results: Within this subsample (n = 15), recruitment rates, session
attendance in the high-intensity condition, and consistency between
outcome measures were lower than expected. Session attendance in
the low-intensity and control conditions, treatment fidelity, measurement
completion, blinding, retention, and safety met a priori thresholds for
feasibility.
Conclusions: By discussing strategies to improve recruitment and to
minimize potential burden on study participants, referrers, and researchers,
this study helps build knowledge about designing and implementing
trials successfully.