Categorization by Competency of studies involving music therapy students in the Journal of Music Therapy, 1964-2008

The education and training of future music therapists is a topic that has received much attention. Researchers have studied concerns of practica (Wheeler, 2002) and pre-internship students (Madsen & Kaiser, 1999), skills of students entering training (Brookins, 1984), technological aspects of training (Crowe & Rio, 2004), emotional stages during the internship (Grant & McCarty, 1990), methods of providing feedback (Greenfield, 1978; Hanser & Furman, 1980), and learning outcomes for music therapy students entering their internship (Petrie, 1 989). Researchers have also examined the institutions where music therapists work, their clinical practice, skills used, and the education they received (Braswell, Maranto, & Decuir, 1979; Froman, 2009; Jackson, 2008; Silverman, 2007; Silverman & Hairston, 2005; Young, 2009). The synthesis of these studies has helped to refine the educational methods utilized by schools approved by the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA). Often, researchers share results from these systematic investigations at research poster sessions (Silverman, 2008) and/or publish findings in the Journal of Music Therapy. These studies are of paramount importance as they are used to shape and refine the academic and clinical competencies of future music therapists.Michel and Madsen (1969) authored the first published article in the Journal of Music Therapy using students as the sample. The purpose of the study was to investigate the educational preparation of music therapy students. In their study, they asserted that research training "can and must be undertaken at the undergraduate level of music therapy training" (p. 22). The study also noted that there can be challenges when utilizing behavioral modification techniques in music therapy, including overconfidence by the student and objective assessment of the apparent treatment influences. Evidence to support Michel and Madsen's assertion was also identified in an educational study by Hanser and Madsen (1 972). In this study, the researchers utilized a double-blind method with points being awarded for: bibliography/research design, examinations, mini-experiments, class discussions, and a completed experiment. The results were used to investigate comparisons of graduate and undergraduate research in music therapy. Their primary findings demonstrated no significant differences between the rank orders of the two sets of research reports and no between-group grade differences.However, in a related investigation published 12 years later, Madsen and Furman (1 984) demonstrated that graduate music therapy students did show a higher competency for research than music therapy undergraduate students. In this study, Madsen and Furman examined research acquisition and dissemination through studying the grades given to research projects submitted by undergraduate and graduate music therapy students. Both levels of students were enrolled in the same course using the same syllabus. Madsen and Furman found undergraduate scores differed significantly from those of the graduate students on an examination of research concepts and terminology. However, there was no significant difference between undergraduate and graduate scores over transfer analyses. The researchers conjectured that these results may not be a result of the undergraduates' intelligence but may indicate a lack of scholarship among the graduate students.Luce (2008) used a developmental and hermeneutic approach to study the maturation and progression of undergraduate music therapy students in an introductory music therapy course. To frame the analysis, Luce used Perry's Scheme (Perry, 1970) and Women's Ways of Knowing (Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger & Tarule, 1 986). Perry's Scheme consists of nine positions along a continuum that define an individual's progression towards a way of knowing and learning for self-expression. These positions, in ascending order, are: (1) Basic Duality; (2) Multiplicity Pre-legitimate; (3) Multiplicity Subordinate; (4) Multiplicity Correlate or Relativism Subordinate; (5) Relativism Correlate, Competing, or Diffuse; (6) Commitment Foreseen; (7) Initial Commitment; (8) Orientation in Implications of Commitment; and (9) Developing Commitments. …