Designing, piloting, and evaluating an on-line collaborative songwriting environment and protocol using Skype telecommunication technology: Perceptions of music therapy student participants

Music therapy university training programs facilitate students' development of skills in designing, implementing, and evaluating the effects of treatment with client groups of varying ages and special needs. Songwriting is one of the main interventions employed by music therapists (Baker, Wigram, Stott, & McFerran, 2008; Grocke, Bloch, & Castle, 2009; O'Kelly, 2008; Thompson, 2009; Wigram & Baker, 2005) and often involves clients composing songs, facilitated by a music therapist. The acquisition of therapeutic songwriting skills is integral to music therapy training and students are expected to learn these skills in their university programs (American Music Therapy Association, 2003; Australian Music Therapy Association, 2004; Certification Board for Music Therapists, 2003). Music therapy students may need to develop skills in writing songs across a range of styles suitable for clients of different age groups, differing levels of cognitive and communicative abilities, and varied cultural groups and preferences (Wigram & Baker, 2005). Student music therapists learn how to assist clients to identify key issues impacting on their lives and work with these clients to create songs that the clients experience as "owned. " Skills needed to facilitate therapeutic songwriting include observation and assessment of the client's emotional, communicative, and cognitive skills as well as attending to the emotional responses of clients There are also a variety of lyrical and musical skills necessary for music therapy students to develop for successful clinical songwriting.Music therapy students may learn these skills in two contexts. First, students may be taught to write songs within the classroom setting, taught by instructors with expertise in this area, and they are expected to practice these outside the classroom. Later in the training program, they may have opportunities to practice these skills with clients in a real therapy setting during their practicum training under the supervision of an experienced music therapist. The transition from writing songs for clients in the classroom to writing songs with clients during a practicum may be a challenge for students due to the differences between the two settings. As such, an additional learning activity, therapeutic collaborative songwriting between peers, may be used to bridge the gap of learning experiences between the classroom and real therapy settings. This approach will be detailed later in this paper, as it was one of the focal points for the present study.The application of electronic technology is also a growing area in music therapy practice, and authors have described the many uses of technology to facilitate clinical music therapy success with clients with a variety of special needs (Crowe & Rio, 2004; Krout, 2008). As with songwriting skills, technology experiences are integral to music therapy training, and students often learn about technology in their university programs. In fact, as with songwriting, students are also expected to achieve competency in this area (American Music Therapy Association, 2003; Australian Music Therapy Association, 2004; Certification Board for Music Therapists, 2003). As with songwriting, students may learn about technology in the classroom, but may benefit from practicing using technology in simulated clinical settings (Krout, 1997; Krout, Burnham, & Moorman, 1993). One recent application of electronic technology in fields related to music therapy is telehealth. Over the past few years, telehealth, the delivery and provision of health services and information via telecommunications technology, has been successfully implemented by health professions and practitioners, including general practice physicians and surgeons (Moore & Primm, 2007; Postuma & Loewen, 2005), nurses and community health workers (Marshall, 2009), psychiatrists (Manchanda & McLaren, 1998), occupational therapists (Theodoras & Russell, 2008), physiotherapists (Sal ih, Wootton, Bellerz, & Gray, 2007), speech pathologists (Theodoras, Constantinescu, Russell, Ward, Wilson, & Wootton, 2006), and clinicians working in aged care (Crossen-Sills, Toomey, & Doherty, 2009). …