Søren Hald

Søren Hald

Søren Hald

hald@hum.aau.dk
AAU person profile

Qualifications

Music therapist: MA (2004 Aalborg University, Denmark)

Current position

Full time PhD fellow at the Doctoral Programme in Music Therapy AAU since 1st. of August 2008.

Title of PhD research study

Active music therapy, acquired brain injury, and interepersonal communication competences

Supervisors

Hanne Mette Ridder & Tony Wigram

Focus of study

This PhD study explores the correlation between interpersonal communication competences in improvised music and daily life in people with acquired brain injury (ABI). Another field of interest is the effect of 20 group music therapy session on interpersonal communication competences.

Design

The correlation hypothesis has been tested on 18 participants having suffered from a ‘medium’ acquired brain injury (ABI). To test the interpersonal effect of music therapy a randomized cross-over design (AB-BA) was assigned on 11 participants who have lived with their injury for more than five years. ‘A’ was twenty group music therapy sessions and ‘B’ was 4-5 months of standard rehabilitation. 3 participants got very ill and left the study.

The 7 participants who had acute ABI were allocated to music therapy condition or standard rehabilitation, based on treatment considerations. Communication competences in daily life was measured with an altered version of Rubin and Martin (1994) Interpersonal Communication Competence Scale (ICCS) deployed on relatives, staff and participants. Interpersonal communication competences in music were measured by blinded raters using an adapted version of Bruscia’s (1987) Improvisation Assessment Profile -autonomy profile (IAP-Aut.) and an alteration of the ICCS questionnaire into musical means.

Background

Musical interaction relies on many different networks of the brain working together(Peretz and Zatorre, 2005). When persons with ABI actively do music, they are offered an opportunity for simultaneous activation of the emotional-, motoric-, cognitive- and communicative structures of the brain.
Music therapy with persons suffering a medium ABI most often addresses needs such as; voice and speech training, motoric training, song writing, social interaction, emotional relief, relaxation, and cognitive training(Baker and Tamplin, 2006).

It is widely acknowledged that ABI to a large extend affects psychosocial functioning(Morton and Wehman, 1995). Research indicate that active music therapy can have an positive effect on interaction competences (Barker and Brunk, 1991, Nayak et al., 2000, Purdie, 1997)

When client and music therapist play music together, their musical interaction behavior is continually adjusted. When interacting musically they use interpersonal communication competences such as empathy, self-disclosure, social relaxation, expressiveness, focused attention, etc. It is the studies general hypothesis that an overall gain in doing music therapy in neurological rehabilitation is improved interpersonal communication competences.

References and publications related to the PhD study

  • BAKER, F. & TAMPLIN, J. (2006) Music therapy methods in neurorehabilitation, London, Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
  • BARKER, V. L. & BRUNK, B. (1991) The Role of Creative Arts Group in the Treatment of Clients with Traumatic Brain Injury. Music therapy perspectives, 9, 26-31.
  • BRUSCIA, K. E. (1987) Improvisational models of music therapy, Springfield, Ill., Charles C. Thomas.
  • MORTON, M. V. & WEHMAN, P. (1995) Psychosocial and emotional sequelae of individuals with traumatic brain injury: a literature review and recommendations. Brain Injury, 9, 81-92.
  • NAYAK, S., WHEELER, B. L., SHIFLETT, S. C. & AGOSTINELLI, S. (2000) Effect of music therapy on mood and social interaction among individuals with acute traumatic brain injury and stroke. Rehabilitation Psychology, 45, 274-283.
  • PERETZ, I. & ZATORRE, R. J. (2005) Brain organization for music processing. Annu.Rev.Psychol, 56, 89-114.
  • PURDIE, H. (1997) Music Therapy with Adults who have Traumatic Brain Injury and Stroke. British Journal of music Therapy, 11, 45-50.
  • RUBIN, R. B. & MARTIN, M. M. (1994) Development of a Measure of Interpersonal Communication Competence. Communication Research Reports, 11, 33-44.
  • WIGRAM, T. (2004) Improvisation : methods and techniques for music therapy clinicians, educators, and students, London ; Philadelphia, J. Kingsley Publishers.