A Year in Review: Summarizing Published Literature in Music Therapy in 2011

As the profession of music therapy continues to expand, keeping abreast of current research is becoming increasingly challenging. The range of publications that music therapists contribute to is ever increasing, as are the focus areas of these publications. The purpose of this literature review is to identify and categorize all published articles concerning music therapy in English language journals in 2011. Major search engines were utilized to identify articles using several key search terms. 139 articles met inclusion criteria and were divided into clinical, professional, foundational, and theoretical categories. Within each category, a summary of the total number of articles, clients served, and outcomes are provided.Methodology of ResearchIn order to comprehensively search the literature, the following search engines were utilized: Academic Search Premier, CINAHL, MEDLINE (with full text), OVID, ProQuest, PsyclNFO and PubMed. Search terms included "music therapy", "music and medicine", and "therapeutic music." The Journal of Music Therapy, Music Therapy Perspectives, the British Journal of Music Therapy, the Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, the Australian Journal of Music Therapy, and Arts in Psychotherapy, were all also manually searched to ensure the inclusion of all relevant articles. Once identified, each article was collected, reviewed, and categorized by hand. During this process, the researchers selected 1 5 articles and reviewed and categorized these as a group to ensure categorization consistency.Inclusion and Exclusion CriteriaIn reviewing each article, the following inclusion criteria were used: (a) the article was published between January 1st and December 31st, 2011, (b) the article was published in English, (c) the article was about music therapy, and (d) at least one author was a music therapist with a professional designation consistent with their country of residence.The following kinds of articles were excluded: (a) book reviews, (b) editorials, (c) music-medicine articles not written by music therapists, (d) foundational music research not included in music therapy journals, and (e) music education articles focused on adapting classroom educational experiences for special learners. Foundational research articles published in music therapy journals were included in this review to indicate the level of attention given to this area within the field. Foundational research articles not included in music therapy journals were excluded for two reasons: (a) they represent a significant additional literature base, with their own areas of focus and categorization, thereby warranting a separate review, and (b) they were either not authored by a music therapist or focused specifically on music therapy.Approaches to CategorizationAn inductive approach to categorization was taken (Cronin et al., 2008). Upon searching, collecting and examining the articles included in this review, several categories emerged. The major, easily identifiable category was client population. This category was divided into several subcategories, each of which is presented herein: children, adolescents, adults, and older adults. In presenting each of these categories, we summarized the total number of articles in a particular area (e.g., children, autism, 7 articles), the total number of clients served in these articles (N), and an indication of the outcomes of the research/clinical discussion. When an article discussed multiple age groups (e.g., both children and adolescents or both adolescents and adults), it was categorized in both subcategories. Similarly, when an article had two distinct purposes (e.g., a focus on theory development, with an emphasis on clinical practice with children), it was also categorized twice (theory development; clinical practice: children).The next category identified focused on the professional issues. Professional articles primarily concerned education and training, the characteristics of music therapy students and professionals, along with multicultural concerns. …