The effectiveness of a short-term group music therapy intervention for parents who have a child with a disability.

BACKGROUND: The positive relationship between parent-child interactions and optimal child development is well established. Families of children with disabilities may face unique challenges in establishing positive parent-child relationships; yet, there are few studies examining the effectiveness of music therapy interventions to address these issues. In particular, these studies have been limited by small sample size and the use of measures of limited reliability and validity. OBJECTIVE: This study examined the effectiveness of a short-term group music therapy intervention for parents of children with disabilities and explored factors associated with better outcomes for participating families. METHODS: Participants were 201 mother-child dyads, where the child had a disability. Pre- and post-intervention parental questionnaires and clinician observation measures were completed to examine outcomes of parental wellbeing, parenting behaviors, and child development. Descriptive data, t-tests for repeated measures and a predictive model tested via logistic regression are presented. RESULTS: Significant improvements pre to post intervention were found for parent mental health, child communication and social skills, parenting sensitivity, parental engagement with child and acceptance of child, child responsiveness to parent, and child interest and participation in program activities. There was also evidence for high parental satisfaction and that the program brought social benefits to families. Reliable change on six or more indicators of parent or child functioning was predicted by attendance and parent education. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides positive evidence for the effectiveness of group music therapy in promoting improved parental mental health, positive parenting and key child developmental areas.

National study of an early parenting intervention: implementation differences on parent and child outcomes: parenting program implementation.

Sing & Grow is a 10-week group music therapy intervention to promote positive parenting and child development for marginalized parents of birth to 3-year-old children. This paper examined whether changes from pre to post intervention varied according to implementation site, when the intervention was taken to scale nationally. Outcomes for 850 participants were compared for the site where the program was first established against three new locations; one site where implementation processes were more favorable relative to the other two sites. Overall, the findings provided only limited support for differential outcomes by site of implementation. Participants showed significant improvements in parent-reported parenting and child outcomes from pre to post that were similar across all sites. For clinician-reported outcomes, improvements over time were generally greater in the original site and the well-supported site compared to the sites where there were more implementation difficulties. These differences were partly accounted for by differences in the characteristics of participants receiving programs in different sites and differences in the clinicians' ratings of program quality and the levels of support and training provided. However, confounding by the source of measurement requires cautious interpretation of clinician data. This study further highlights the potential for music therapy as an early parenting intervention, and the need for more rigorous evaluations in this field.

Impact of music therapy to promote positive parenting and child development.

The effectiveness of a 10-week group music therapy program for marginalized parents and their children aged 0-5 years was examined. Musical activities were used to promote positive parent-child relationships and children's behavioral, communicative and social development. Participants were 358 parents and children from families facing social disadvantage, young parents or parents of a child with a disability. Significant improvements were found for therapist-observed parent and child behaviors, and parent-reported irritable parenting, educational activities in the home, parent mental health and child communication and social play skills. This study provides evidence of the potential effectiveness of music therapy for early intervention.