The clinical applicability of music therapy research: What do the results tell the clinicians?

Research serves the functions of informing the clinical field, guiding future research, establishing new knowledge and theory, and meeting criteria for evidence based practice. Given the demands of health, education and social services today and there is an increasing expectation that clinical practitioners in all three areas (and beyond) can demonstrate, through previous and current research, that the music therapy service and interventions they provide are relevant and effective (Ansdell, Pavicevic & Proctor, 2004; Gold, Voracek and Wigram, 2004; Vink, 2003; Wigram 2002). Documentation of research in lengthy and complex theses is seldom accessible to the practitioner working ‘at the coal-face’; and sometimes lacks clear direction on how the results are applicable in everyday therapy. For results to be implemented in clinical practice and disseminated to colleagues in related fields as well as senior managers, the objective, method, results, implications and limitations need to be clearly set out and argued. Examples of this will be drawn from various clinical fields, including psychiatry, developmental disability, neurology, paediatrics, pervasive developmental disorder and oncology, together with a proposed formula for abstracting articles and presenting evidence.