Repositioning music therapy service evaluation: a case of five Nordoff-Robbins music therapy service evaluations in neuro-rehabilitation

Abstract

Service evaluations in music therapy often have local, functional and immediate goals, such as ensuring quality and continuing funding. However, given the amount and type of information collected in service evaluation projects from therapists, clients and those around them, such - often unpublished - projects may constitute a hidden treasure trove of information particularly about the perceived impact of music therapy services. In addition to exploring potentially challenging aspects of service evaluations in music therapy, this article considers how these can contribute to the understanding of music therapy through analysis of five service evaluations. These service evaluations share a common approach (Nordoff-Robbins) and area of work (neuro-rehabilitation) and were informed by sociocultural epistemologies underpinning contemporary Nordoff-Robbins practices. Such epistemologies consider people's everyday experiences and contexts, and encourage an exploration of the music therapy service in its entirety. It is from this perspective that this study explores the impact of music therapy services in neuro-rehabilitation settings as perceived and reported by clients and those around them. Although the perceived impact of music therapy beyond the client has been previously discussed, this seems to have been less emphasised in neuro-rehabilitation settings where the focus tends to remain on the client and their rehabilitation progress. We discuss how the context-sensitive nature of such evaluations can enable the potential for identification of areas of impact that can feed back into practice as well as generate research questions.