A comparison of the effect of music therapy and medical play therapy on the verbalization behavior of pediatric patients

Journal/Book: Journal of Music Therapy. 1984; 21: Silver Spring, Maryland, USA. National Association for Music Therapy. 2-15.

Abstract: Therapeutic play activities are designed to help children verbalize their hospital experiences so that they can cope with the trauma of hospitalization. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a music therapy session was more effective than a medical play therapy session in facilitating this verbalization. Forty school-aged subjects were randomly selected to receive an individual music therapy or play therapy session. The two groups were equated on the following variables: sex, age, socioeconomic status, length of present hospitalization, session interruptions, type of illness and related number of prior hospitalizations, and prior Child Life involvement. The dependent variable was comprised of each patient's response to four critical incidence questions about hospitalization. Results revealed that music therapy elicited significantly more involved verbalization about hospitalization than did the play therapy session for wach of the seven variables.

Keyword(s): music-therapy, medical, play-therapy, hospitalized , pediatrics, patient, verbalization, children.

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