Developing and adapting music therapy assessment tools

Assessment practices in music therapy involve procedures to gather information, analyse data and make decisions on how to carry out the music therapy process. This masterclass will work on how to develop and adapt assessment tools in music therapy. The masterclass is organised in four sections:1. Some necessary steps to create an assessment tool in music therapy2. Creating an assessment tool (draft version)3. Adapting music therapy assessment tools4. The take-home message for delegates and final questions and reflectionsAll these four steps will be modelled virtually based on short time for lecturing and practical tasks. The first section will be a lecture (15 minutes) on the steps needed to create an assessment tool in music therapy: statement of purpose and intended uses, content and format specifications, length, item development, administration and adaptations. These steps are based on the Standards for Education and Psychological Testing (AERA, APA & NCME, 2014). In the second section (35 minutes), the delegates will create a draft of their own assessment tool. The teacher/facilitator will guide this process, suggesting what they need to focus and what are the requirements that they need to follow. During this section, the delegates will make questions in the chat or speaking directly to the teacher. At the end of this section, each delegate will need to write what is the “draft” title of their assessment tool. The third part of the master class (20 minutes) is on how to adapt music therapy assessment tools. The facilitator will present different assessment tools in music therapy, and he will find out together with the delegates possible ways to adapt each of these assessment tools in the clinical practice. The participants will participate especially suggesting adaptations to the presented tools, writing in the chat and also talking to all the participants. The last part of the masterclass will be a closing moment, including the take-home message for delegates and time for the final questions and reflections (20 minutes). The main take-home message is: creating and adapting assessment tools is part of the everyday practice in music therapy and is not something exclusive for the research context.