Author: Daniel Benjamin Joseph

Publisher:

Published: 2022

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

Children and adolescents who are hospital patients experience physical isolation and physical restriction during their stay in the hospital, which can evoke challenging emotions. These young people who cannot leave the hospital are denied access to a wide range of physical locations which they could be exploring for purposes of learning and play, such as outdoor environments. The practice of music therapy can lend itself to addressing the emotional hardship faced by these patients. This project explicates a music therapy protocol directed towards working with challenging emotions which result from physical isolation and physical restriction in the hospital by combining musical interaction between patient and music therapist with recordings from outdoor environments. Recommendations for music therapy interventions based in the protocol are founded in music therapy methods and are aimed to soothe the emotional symptoms which can arise as a result of isolation, such as loss, helplessness, hopelessness or disconnection (Alvarez et. al, 2020; GuÌ8rcan et. al, 2020; Lapp et. al, 2021; Souza et. al, 2021). In order to create the protocol, a literature review was executed which integrated scholarly work relating to the mental and emotional health of hospitalized children and adolescents, music therapy, technology in music therapy, and benefits on human health and well-being derived from immersion in outdoor environments. The result is a series of steps a music therapist can take which culminates in the coalescence of recordings of green spaces with digital music-making platforms and acoustic instruments, which has the potential to bring the animate freedom of outdoor expression into an indoor container. Interventions generated from the protocol can hopefully soothe the emotions which surface as a result of not being able to leave the hospital. Included is an overview of the proposed protocol itself with ideas for interventions as well as limitations and ideas of possible avenues for research. Keywords: Music Therapy, Nature, Hospitalization, Children and Adolescents, Music Technology