Sanne Storm
Sanne Storm
Grønlandsvegur 63B
FO-100 Tórshavn
Faroe Islands
stormsanne@gmail.com
Working adress:
Music Therapist Sanne Storm
Landssjúkrahúsið Tórshavn
Psychiatric Hospital
FO-100 Tórshavn
Faroe Islands
Phone: + 298 304500
e-mail: storm@lsh.fo
Qualification: MA in Music Therapy 2002 from Aalborg University, Denmark. Diploma in a two year Pedagogic Voice Training Program from Centre Artistique International Roy Hart, France 2005.
Current position: Part time PhD student at the Graduate School in Music Therapy, at Aalborg University, Department of Communication and Psychology, beginning July 2004, ending summer 2010, and working as a music therapist at Tórshavn Psychiatric Hospital, Landssjúkrahúsid Tórshavn, Faroe Islands.
Title of Ph D research study
Research into the Development of a Voice Assessment Tool in Music Therapy.
Supervisor
Prof. Dr. Tony Wigram.
Summary
With the Voice Assessment Tool, VAT, data describing vocal parameters will be collected and analyzed, making it possible to draw psychological interpretations of the client's psychological state in any given situation. The VAT is based on clinical observations of how the client spontaneously expresses her- /himself with the voice.
In listening to a client's voice a specific listening perspective is applied. This listening perspective does not focus on the structure and style of the music, or an interpretation of the music from that point of view, but focuses on how the client's voice quality can be described, as well as the potential psychological interpretations related to this. VAT is focussed on the vocal production of the clients - the sounds of their voice.
The Voice Assessment Tool will focus on the human voice used in a music therapy situation where the client is:
o undertaking singing exercises
o singing songs
o making spontaneous voice expression through clinical voice improvisations.
Motivation
My research is based on clinical music therapy practice and on being a member of an interdisciplinary team at Tórshavn Psychiatric Hospital where I am involved in the active treatment process. In my clinical practice I have a special interest in body- and voice work which I often apply with clients suffering from depression.
Working as a music therapist I, together with the psychologist, represent a humanistic approach in the treatment of psychiatric problems. In many hospitals the psychiatrists still primarily represent and treat psychiatric problems with a medical approach. The humanistic and the medical approaches are very different and advocate two ways of understanding psychiatric problems. However in the everyday work with psychiatric patients these two approaches have to work together, be complementary to each other with the treatment and ways of making clinical evaluations. Therefore, in my opinion, it is important to promote a better cooperation and understanding between these fields.
As a music therapist and a member of an interdisciplinary team I find it important and necessary to report my evaluation of a music therapy session, and to write a report in the medical file. However, this sometimes is difficult because I lack an evaluation tool aimed at describing the musical interaction between the patient and the music therapist; that addresses the practice and the clinical work of music therapy/treatment offered to the psychiatric patients; and that communicates the results from an assessment or evaluation in an easy and understandable way to the interdisciplinary team.
The discipline of clinical psychology has several assessment / test tools for evaluation of cognitive ability, e.g. the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC), and tools for the assessment of personality such as the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and the Rorschach "Ink Blot" test, to undertake a more precise clinical and / or psychometric evaluation. These psychological testing tools follow certain procedures and require a systematic way of administration, and have been trailed for validity and reliability, as well as standardised on specific populations.
In order to develop the music therapy discipline there is a need for tools that present our clinical evaluation of the patients' psychological states, primary needs and strengths, and therapeutical development over time. These developed tools might also serve to produce empirical evidence supporting the use of music therapy in treatment, and clarify how we, as members of an interdisciplinary team, may contribute to a comprehensive and more holistic clinical evaluation.
Research questions
1. What constitutes a valid and reliable voice assessment tool for clinical music therapy practice?
2. Can this voice assessment tool be used to evaluate change over time?
Sub-questions
1. How can relevant vocal parameters for a voice assessment tool be identified and operationally defined?
2. Can inter-rater / assessor agreement be obtained to find consistent outcomes in application?
3. What guidelines are necessary for assessors to undertake a systematic and consistent evaluation?
4. What are the potentials and limitations of a vocal assessment tool?
5. Will the assessment / voice assessment analysis provide valid and reliable data when applied in clinical practice?
Method
Method and Design:
The method employed in this study is a multiple case study research evaluating a vocal assessment tool. The research will be undertaken in two parts, which form a logical sequence:
Part 1: Development and definition of the assessment tool.
The function and intension of the voice assessment tool will be explained. Voice parameters will be defined based on previous research, empirical practice and interviews with voice teachers, specialists from the field of speech and voice therapy/treatment.
In order to measure the different defined vocal parameters a summated rating (Likert) scale will be developed as well as a manual for using the VAT (Voice Assessment Tool). There will be a procedure coming around the voice parameters.
Part 2: Testing and evaluation of the assessment tool with clinical and non-clinical subjects.
This part will have two sections of data collection. Data collection will be undertaken through a pilot project and a clinical trial.
The pilot study will contain one music therapy session where two non-clinical and two clinical subjects will participate in…:
- singing exercises (focus on voice parameters)
- singing both a standard and a chosen song
- making spontaneous voice expression through Clinical Voice Improvisation (CVI)
The clinical trial will contain 12 music therapy sessions with three males and three females recruited from Tórshavn Psychiatric Hospital who are diagnosed with depressive characteristics.
Clinical material will be collected from the first, seventh and last session (MD-recordings).
Five independent music therapists will be analysing the collected clinical material according to developed design and a manual.
Publications and presentations at conferences
Storm, S. (2002) Therapeutic development from an unconscious and pre-verbale stage into a conscious and verbal stage. MT with a psychotic, non-verbalizing female psychiatric adult patient. Paper at the 10th World Congress of Music Therapy in Oxford, England.
Storm, S. (2003) Livline til virkeligheden - første skridt i en psykoterapeutisk behandling" (Lifeline to Reality - first stage of psychotherapy. Årsskrift. Musikterapi i Psykiatrien. Periodicum. The Music Therapy Clinic, Centre for treatment and research, at Aalborg Psychiatric Hospital, Denmark.
Storm, S., Hestbæk, T., & Petersen, R. (2003) Receptive group-music therapy in Psychiatry in collaboration with a physiotherapist - a demonstration. Workshop at the 4th Nordic Music Therapy Conference in Bergen, Norway.
Storm, S. (2004). "Singing yourself alive" Clinical Voice Work in Music Therapy with adult psychiatric patients. Paper at the 6th European Music Therapy Congress in Jyväskylä, Finland.
Storm, S. (2006) Research into the Development of a Voice Assessment Tool in Music Therapy. Paper at the 5th Nordic Music Therapy Conference in Stockholm, Sweden.
Storm, S. (2007) Den menneskelige stemme - psykologi og psykodynamisk stemmeterapi. (The human voice - psychology and psychodynamic voicetherapy.). In L.O. Bonde (Ed.) Psyke og Logos. Musik og psykologi. København. Dansk psykologisk Forlag.
Storm, S. (2007) Psychodynamic Voice Therapy - A Music Therapeutic Approach with Psychiatric Patients suffering from Depression. Workshop at the 7th European Music Therapy Congress in Eindhoven, Holland.