Musik og sundhedsfremme i Norden - Hvem og hvordan?

The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of health promotion through music activities and interventions in Danish/Nordic hospitals during the last twenty years, and to discuss theoretical rationales and practical problems related to these relatively new initiatives. The methodology is a mixture of heuristics and literature review. The author has been an active agent in this field – as clinician, researcher, supervisor and teacher – and has taken part in the development of the theoretical concept of »health musicking« which is a framework for many of the agents in the field. Findings include a presentation of the present evidence base for music interventions in Nordic hospitals and a systematic overview of agents in the field. There is a growing body of evidence from different types of research studies in the Nordic countries; however, the specific evidence is still limited. Two different approaches to the implementation of music therapy/music medicine in hospitals are identified and discussed, and practical implications are highlighted in a number of recommendations for agents in the field. The value of the essay is that no current overview of the field is available, and therefore both findings and discussions present an original research- and experience-based contribution to the development of health promotion through musicking in hospitals.