MAP: A Personalized Receptive Music Therapy Intervention to Improve the Affective Well-being of Youths Hospitalized in a Mental Health Unit

Kim Archambault
Karole Vaugon
Valérie Deumié
Myriam Brault
Rocio Macabena Perez
Julien Peyrin
Guylaine Vaillancourt
Patricia Garel

Abstract

The MAP is an innovative receptive music therapy intervention derived from psychomusical relaxation methods that aims to foster the well-being and recovery of youths with mental health problems by providing them with an adaptive and effective music-assisted means to regulate their mood states. In this quasi-experimental pilot study, we assessed the mood-enhancing potential of participation in MAP sessions delivered by a music therapist in an in-patient mental health facility for children and adolescents. Using short standardized self-reported questionnaires, 20 participants aged 9–17 years old (M = 14, SD = 2.4), mainly girls (13 = 65%), rated their affective state immediately before and after two to four MAP sessions and a similar number of regular unit activity sessions used as comparison. This created a 2 × 2 (Time × Condition) single-group within-individual design. We analyzed pre–post session changes in affect using multilevel mixed models and found participation in MAP sessions to be associated with systematic reductions in self-reported general negative affect and state anxiety. These variations were of modest-to-large magnitude and significantly greater than those associated to participation in regular unit activities. While only a first step towards the validation of the MAP as an effective intervention to foster more adaptive and effective day-to-day mood regulation in youths with mental health problems, this study supports its specific potential to alleviate negative affects and provides a rare demonstration of the putative benefits of music therapy in a pediatric mental health inpatient context. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)