Group Music Therapy for Prisoners: Protocol for a Randomised Controlled Trial

The prevalence of psychological problems is high in prisons. Many prisoners have unmet needs for appropriate treatments. Although previous studies have suggested music therapy to be a successful treatment modality for prisoners, more rigorous evidence is needed. This parallel randomised controlled study aims to investigate the effectiveness of group music therapy to reduce anxiety and depression, and raise self-esteem in prisoners. One hundred and ninety two inmates from a Chinese prison will be allocated to two groups through randomisation. The experimental group will participate in twice weekly group music therapy for 10 weeks (20 sessions), while the control group will receive all standard care but no music therapy. Anxiety, depression and self-esteem will be measured by self-report scales three times: before, at the middle and at the end of the intervention. Logs by the participants and their daily routine behaviour records will be utilised as additional information. This study will increase the knowledge of the effectiveness of group music therapy for offenders. Generalisability to clinical practice will be strengthened by the flexibility of the intervention and a practical clinical guideline. We hope the findings will be able to support the further development of music therapy in correctional service.