Batt-Rawden, Kari Bjerke. Music: A Strategy to Promote Health in Rehabilitation? An Evaluation of Participation in a ‘Music and Health Promotion Project’. International Journal of Rehabilitation Research 2006, 29, 171–173.
This study illuminates the role and significance of music listening in everyday life for the long-term ill. Twenty-two participants, aged 34–65 from Oslo and Akershus in Norway, were recruited as a strategic sample and took part in eight in-depth interviews over a 1-year period, from 2004 to 2005. Four double CD compilations from different genres, part of the project, were used as devices to discover whether participants could learn to use music as a ‘technology’ for self-help, with regard to health, healing and recovery, through exposure to and exchange of new musical materials and practices. A novel Participatory CD design was developed, and the beneficial experiences of taking part in the project resulted in an increase in self-awareness and self-consciousness. Listening to and discussing music was considered to be an important tool in the process of change, sense of agency and self-development, through enhancing well-being and ‘wellness’, a vital factor in the process of recovery and sustaining quality of life, despite of illness.

Charon, Rita. Narrative Medicine: Honoring the Stories of Illness. New York, NY: Oxford University Press 2006.

Chou, Mei-Hsien/ Lin, Mei-Feng. Exploring the Listening Experiences During Guided Imagery and Music Therapy of Outpatients With Depression. Journal of Nursing Research 2006, 14(2), 93-102.
Abstract
The purpose of this preliminary study was to explore the listening experiences of outpatient depression sufferers who underwent guided imagery and music therapy (GIM). A purposive sampling method was performed at the psychiatric outpatient clinic of a medical center in southern Taiwan from April 2003 to June 2004. The five subjects in this study all underwent a total of eight sessions of individual GIM therapy. The researcher invited a therapist to implement the GIM therapy sessions. Researchers conducted a semi-structured, in-depth telephone interview with each subject within 24 to 48 hours after each therapy session. Eight interviews were accomplished and transcribed for each case, and then subject to content analysis. The results showed a total of 55 important listening episodes, which could be categorized into the following 5 themes: (1) leisurely wandering in very natural sceneries; (2) creation of surreal virtual surroundings; (3) recollection of past life experiences; (4) submersion in thematic music melodies; and (5) experiencing various physical relaxation events. The triggering effect represented a combination of multiple factors, including music, the individual, the therapist and environment. The theme of each patient’s imagery episode was a result of the effect of the four factors, with music having the greatest impact. This study hopes to present the listening experiences of depression sufferers in GIM therapy; to make suggestions for future investigations into subsequent impacts and changes that GIM has on patients; and to, perhaps, serve as references for future clinical practice or studies.

Collie, Kate. A Narrative View of Art Therapy and Art Making by Women with Breast Cancer. Journal of Health Psychology 2006, 11(5), 761–775.
Abstract
Art therapy (with an art therapist) and art making (without an art therapist) show promise as avenues for psychosocial support for women with breast cancer. The purpose of this study was to gain an in-depth understanding of how 17 women with breast cancer in Canada and the USA used art therapy and their own art making to address their psychosocial needs, focusing particularly on meaning making. Narrative analysis of interviews yielded four storylines: Art and Art Therapy as a Haven; Getting a Clearer View; Clearing the Way Emotionally; and Enhancing and Enlivening the Self. The storylines show existence being affirmed, confirmed and proclaimed through visual artistic expression and meaning making being achieved through physical acts of making.

Daykin, Norma/ PGDipMus/ Bunt, Leslie/ McClean, Stuart. Music and Healing in Cancer Care: A Survey of Supportive Care Providers. The Arts in Psychotherapy 2006, 33, 402–413.
Abstract
This paper explores the role of music activity and music therapy in health care drawing on a survey of UK cancer care providers offering music interventions and music therapy. The survey examined the extent and type of music provision and explored providers’ views about the role and contribution of music and music therapy in healing. As well as music, the survey organisations offered a range of supportive therapies including complementary and alternative therapies (CAM) and creative therapies such as art therapy. The results provide insight into the way in which music and creative therapies are viewed by those responsible for care provision in this sector. The data point towards some of the challenges facing music therapists in the changing world of cancer care. These include responding to changes arising from developments in treatment and the organisation of care as well as increased collaboration with a diverse range of supportive care practitioners. These include providers of music and arts for health activity as well as complementary and alternative therapy practitioners who are increasingly involved in cancer care provision. We discuss the implications of these changes for the development of music therapy in cancer care.

Helmes, Edward/ Wiancko, Donna C. Effects of Music in Reducing Disruptive Behavior in a General Hospital. Journal of American Psychiatric Nurses Association 2006, 12(1), 37-44.
Background: There are few controlled studies in acute care of the effectiveness of distracting music in reducing the frequency of noise produced by dementing individuals.
Objective: The authors tested whether a randomized intervention of playing baroque music for 30-min periods would reduce the frequency of repetitive shouting and banging in elderly patients in a teaching hospital.
Study Design: Single case studies with 9 participants (7 females, 2 males), with a mean age of 82.7 years (SD = 7.44). Observations were made at different times of day for a minimum of four sessions.
Results: Trials with distracting music in seven cases had a reduced frequency of disruptive noises of from 89% to 63% from peak levels in control trials. In 2 participants with an extremely high frequency of incidents, the frequency of outbursts of noise was reduced by up to 31% on trials with music compared to control trials.
Conclusions: The use of music to reduce disruptive noise in an acute care setting appears to be as effective as other such interventions have been in residential care facilities.

Hilliard, Russell E. The Effect of Music Therapy Sessions on Compassion Fatigue and Team Building of Professional Hospice Caregivers. The Arts in Psychotherapy 2006, 33, 395–401.
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of music therapy on compassion fatigue and team building of professional hospice workers. Participants were nurses, social workers, and chaplains and were employed for at least one year in hospice care. Seventeen participants engaged in one of two experimental music therapy groups. Experimental group 1 utilized an ecological music therapy approach with an open, free form without structure and encouraged participation in the live music experiences of instrumental improvisation as well as toning and chanting. Experimental group 2 utilized a didactic music therapy approach with a structured format wherein interventions were planned and facilitated by the music therapist a priori. Such interventions included guided meditation with live music, lyric analyses, and music and movement. To measure compassion fatigue, the Compassion Fatigue Scale (CFS) was used as a pre- and post-test measure in each group. To measure team building, the Team Building Questionnaire (TBQ) was used as a pre-and post-test measure in each group. Statistical analyses indicated a significant improvement in team building in both groups but no significant differences with regard to compassion fatigue. Further research studying the effects of music therapy on compassion fatigue and team building of professional hospice caregivers is recommended.

Iakovides, Stefanos A./ Iliadou, Vassiliki T.H./ Bizeli, Vassiliki T.H./Kaprinis, Stergios G./ Fountoulakis, Konstantinos N./ Kaprinis, George S. Psychophysiology and psychoacoustics of music: Perception of complex sound in normal subjects and psychiatric patients. Psychopathology 1993, 26, 13-23.
Abstract
Perception of complex sound is a process carried out in everyday life situations and contributes in the way one perceives reality. Attempting to explain sound perception and how it affects human beings is complicated. Physics of simple sound can be described as a function of frequency, amplitude and phase. Psychology of sound, also termed psychoacoustics, has its own distinct elements of pitch, intensity and tibre. An interconnection exists between physics and psychology of hearing.
Music being a complex sound contributes to communication and conveys information with semantic and emotional elements. These elements indicate the involvement of the central nervous system through processes of integration and interpretation together with peripheral auditory processing.
Effects of sound and music in human psychology and physiology are complicated. Psychological influences of listening to different types of music are based on the different characteristics of basic musical sounds. Attempting to explain music perception can be simpler if music is broken down to its basic auditory signals. Perception of auditory signals is analyzed by the science of psychoacoustics. Differences in complex sound perception have been found between normal subjects and psychiatric patients and between different types of psychopathologies.

Jeppe, Zélide/ Dance/Movement and Music in Improvisational Concert: A Model for Psychotherapy. The Arts in Psychotherapy 2006, 33, 371–382.
Abstract
Improvised dance and live music played by the participants themselves define a dance/movement and music (DMM) model in which interactive, variable geometries of sound and movement open up a novel theatre for emergent imagination and drive the interplay of intra-psychic and interpersonal domains. The model is conceived as a mixture of therapeutic and artistic exploration leading to performances prepared mainly by the participants. It incorporates poetry. One outcome of the model’s optional modalities is the “holding” of the dancer by the music; another is the musical instrument as a transitional object. The expanded therapeutic environment derives strength from the non-verbal movement-and-music coupling, which may favour access to pre-verbal and unconscious psychic provenances, and from the potent triadic formation of therapist, dancers and musicians. It contributes to participants’ freeing themselves from their isolation and, more generally, offers a new prospect to the expression of unresolved trauma and distress.

Knudson, Roger M./ Adame, Alexandra L./ Finocan, Gillian M. Significant Dreams: Repositioning the Self Narrative. Dreaming 2006, 16(3), 215–222.
In this article the authors argue that the study of the ongoing significance of significant dreams necessarily goes beyond quantitative methods for analyzing dream content to a qualitative study of how the dream experience influences the dreamer’s meaning-making processes. A set of concepts from narrative psychology is introduced as being potentially valuable in this regard. A case study is presented to illustrate how the significant dream may serve as a catalyst for repositioning the dreamer’s self narrative relative to a cultural master narrative.

McCaffrey, Ruth/ Locsin, Rozzano. The Effect of Music on Pain and Acute Confusion in Older Adults Undergoing Hip and Knee Surgery. Holist Nurs Pract 2006, 20(5), 218–224.
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of music listening in older adults following hip or knee surgery. Acute confusion and pain after surgery can increase length of stay and reduce function. Study results demonstrate a reduction in acute confusion and pain and improved ambulation and higher satisfaction scores in older adults who listened to music.

Monti, Daniel A./ Peterson, Caroline. Mindful-Based Art Therapy: Results from a Two-Year Study. Psychiatric Times July 2004, 63-66.

Mosher, Catherine E./ Danoff–Burg, Sharon. Health Effects of Expressive Letter Writing. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology 2006, 25(10), 1122-1139.
This study is the first to experimentally examine the potential health benefits of expressive letter writing. College students (N= 108) were randomly assigned to one of three letter–writing tasks. Experimental participants wrote a letter to a socially significant other who either helped or hurt them, whereas control participants wrote a letter to a school official regarding an impersonal relational topic. At follow–up, experimental participants reported greater sleep duration and fewer days of illness –related activity restriction compared to controls. In addition, participants who wrote a letter to an offending individual reported better sleep quality relative to controls. Psychosocial outcomes did not vary according to group assignment. Findings point to the potential sleep–related health benefits of expressive writing.

Pakman, Marcelo. On Imagination: Reconciling Knowledge and Life, or What Does ‘‘Gregory Bateson’’ Stand for? Fam. Proc. December 2004, Vol. 43, 413–423.
This article presents a reading of Gregory Bateson’s oeuvre, focusing on his interest in the representational gap between map and territory, and its importance in the development of his redefinition of the concept of ‘‘mind,’’ his new discipline called ‘‘ecology of ideas,’’ and a methodology congruent to it based on the logics of metaphor. Inquiries on three initial stories from different domains allow the use of homologies between form and content in the article. This reading of Bateson’s oeuvre stresses his questioning (like Derrida’s) of the metaphysics of presence on which Western philosophy has been mostly based, and of the central role of imagination as a balancing factor for a family therapy that he both contributed to and saw with reservations.

Pothoulaki, Maria/ MacDonald, Raymond/ Flowers, Paul . Methodological issues in music interventions in oncology settings: A systematic literature review. The Arts in Psychotherapy 2006, 33, 446–455.
Abstract
This paper is part of a systematic literature review and presents methodological issues within studies, investigating therapeutic applications of music in cancer patients. This review focuses on published international research from the USA, Canada, Australia and European countries using four electronic databases: PSYCHINFO, WEB OF SCIENCE, MEDLINE and SCIENCEDIRECT. Thirty-two papers were identified and each paper was coded in terms of sample type, basic research question, research design and methodological details, results and implications for future research. This paper addresses questions related to study design and methodology. It explores and discusses the relative advantages and disadvantages of various approaches.

Puig, Ana/ Lee, Sang Min/ Goodwin, Linda/ Sherrard, Peter A.D. The Efficacy of Creative Arts Therapies to Enhance Emotional Expression, Spirituality, and Psychological Well-Being of Newly Diagnosed Stage I and Stage II Breast Cancer Patients: A Preliminary Study. The Arts in Psychotherapy 2006, 33, 218–228.
Abstract
Breast cancer is the second most common type of cancer among women in the United States. The psychological impact of the disease may include adjustment disorders, depression, and anxiety and may generate feelings of fear, anger, guilt, and emotional repression. The purpose of this pilot study was to explore the efficacy of a complementary creative arts therapy intervention to enhance emotional expression, spirituality, and psychological well-being in newly diagnosed breast cancer patients. Thirty-nine women with Stage I and Stage II breast cancer were randomly assigned to an experimental group who received individual creative arts therapy interventions or a control group of delayed treatment. A series of analyses of covariance were used to analyze the results, which indicated the intervention was not effective in enhancing the emotional approach coping style of emotional expression or level of spirituality of subjects in this sample. However, participation in the creative arts therapy intervention enhanced psychological well-being by decreasing negative emotional states and enhancing positive ones of experimental group subjects. Recommendations for future research are discussed.

Rockwood Lane, Mary. A New Paradigm for Holistic Nursing Practice. Journal of Holistic Nursing March 2006, 24(1), 70-75.
Bringing creativity into health care has opened up a new dimension in nursing. Creative interventions have been shown to shorten hospital stays and reduce the patient’s need for pain medication. In response to these benefits, many major medical centers around the world have instituted arts in health care programs. Arts in Medicine is one such program that serves hundreds of patients. It was established by a nurse at the University of Florida and is directly tied to nursing care. Programs like this provide clinical models for nurses who want to integrate the arts into their health care practice. This article presents these models and discusses ways that nurses can easily implement creative interventions into their practice.

Sendelbach, Sue E./ Halm, Margo A./ Doran, Karen A./ Hogan Miller, Elaine/ Gaillard, Philippe. Effects of Music Therapy on Physiological and Psychological Outcomes for Patients Undergoing Cardiac Surgery. Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing 2006, 21(3), 194-200.
Background: Cardiac surgery is a common interventional procedure for ischemic and valvular heart disease. Cardiac surgery is accompanied by postoperative pain and anxiety. The use of music therapy has been shown to reduce pain, anxiety, and physiological parameters in patients having surgical procedures.
Objectives: To compare the effects of music therapy versus a quiet, uninterrupted rest period on pain intensity, anxiety, physiological parameters, and opioid consumption after cardiac surgery. Subjects and methods: An experimental design was used. A total sample of 86 patients (69.8% males) were randomized to 1 of 2 groups; 50 patients received 20 minutes of music (intervention), whereas 36 patients had 20 minutes of rest in bed (control). Anxiety, pain, physiologic parameters, and opioid consumption were measured before and after the 20-minute period. Results: A significant reduction in anxiety (P < .001) and pain (P = .009) was demonstrated in the group that received music compared with the control group, but no difference was observed in systolic blood pressure (P = .17), diastolic blood pressure (P = .11), or heart rate (P = .76). There was no reduction in opioid usage in the 2 groups. Conclusions: Patients recovering from cardiac surgery may benefit from music therapy.

Shapiro, Johanna. Can Poetry be Data? Potential Relationships between Poetry and Research. Families, Systems and Health 2004, 22(2), 171-177.
The article by Rich Furman (2004) uses personal poetry written a decade ago, as well as current reflections on these poems, to explore the author’s reactions at various points in time to his father’s diagnosis of lung cancer. Furman created his poems in the time-honored tradition of writing as personal therapy (Anderson & MacCurdy, 2000). Confronted with emotional chaos and loss of control, he wrote to restore a sense of order and balance in a fragmented life. However, 10 years later, the author regards these poems differently, with the eye of perspective not of therapy but as raw material for investigation. He has become the archeologist of his own past. The poetry he wrote then, likely with no thought of scholarly study, is transformed into the stuff of research.

Stein, Howard F. A Window to the Interior of Experience. Families, Systems and Health 2004, 22(2), 178-179.
Physicians’ access to the inner, experiential world of others (patients, families) is medicated and facilitated by physicians’ access to their own. One method is the cultivation of physicians’ own imaginations. By writing poetry and stories about sickness and healing, physicians can become better attuned to the lived world of patients and their families. The journey inward is undertaken in service of the journey outward toward improved relationships with patients, families and collegues.

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