RT journal article
T1 Why Music Therapists Choose to Work with a Clinical Population: An International Pilot Survey
A1 Gilboa, Avi
A1 Wiess, Chava
A1 Dassa, Ayelet
A1 Brotons, Melissa-Mercadal
A1 Frank-Bleckwedel, Eva
A1 Kaczynski, Elisabeth
A1 Kantor, Jiri
A1 Roelcke, Beate
A1 Sabbatella Riccardi, Patricia Leonor
A2 Didáctica de la Educación FísicaPlástica y Musical
K1 music therapy
K1 population choice
K1 clientele
K1 online survey
K1 gender differences
K1 professional identity
AB (1) Background: Throughout their career, music therapists make decisions regarding the clinical population they choose to work with. Though such decisions can have broad implications on the professional development of the music therapist, not much is known about the reasons for making these decisions and whether they are affected by demographic or professional factors. (2) Methods: In this pilot study, we surveyed 439 music therapists from six countries (i.e., Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Israel, Spain, and Switzerland) using an online questionnaire. We asked the respondents to explain why they chose to work with their main clienteles, and we examined whether their reasons were connected to demographic factors such as country of origin, gender, and seniority, and professional factors such as experience as a music therapist and population one works with. (3) Results: The category analysis of these responses pointed at nine distinct reasons that could be grouped into "practical reasons", "reasons of connection", and "innovation". There were differences in reasoning between music therapists from different countries, and with different degrees of seniority, but not between male and female music therapists. (4) Discussion: The implications on training programs and on policy makers are discussed as well as the importance of this subject to the development of music therapists' professional identity.
PB MDPI
SN 1660-4601
YR 2022
FD 2022-08
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10498/27993
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10498/27993
LA eng
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Cádiz
RD 07-nov-2026