Claire Ghetti

Denne artikkelen er basert på prinsippet om at kunnskap skapes gjennom samtale og samarbeid. Inspirert av Mikhail Bakhtins dialogisme, legger tilnærmingen vekt på relasjonelle og interaktive prosesser som gir opphav til ny forståelse. Kunnskap forstås ikke som noe statisk eller individuelt, men som et dynamisk resultat av utvekslinger, hvor deltakerne kontinuerlig responderer på og bygger videre på hverandres ideer. Tilnærmingen understreker betydningen av polyfoni, hvor ulike perspektiver og stemmer bidrar til en mangfoldig, men ikke nødvendigvis enhetlig forståelse. Artikkelen er forankret i spørsmålet: Hvordan kan en dialogisk tilnærming bidra til å utforske og forstå musikkterapiens kunnskaps- og praksisutvikling i Norge i dag, et samfunn som ganske tydelig er et samfunn i endring? Forfatterne av artikkelen benytter skriftlig dialog som en metode for å skape og utvikle kunnskap gjennom dialogiske prosesser. Vi skriver i respons til hverandres refleksjoner, analyser og perspektiver, og lar teksten utvikle seg gjennom gjensidig påvirkning. Vi bruker frasen «med viten, vilje og en dose villskap» for å illustrere hvordan uforutsigbare, komplekse og til tider motstridende prosesser kan føre til meningsfull kunnskaps- og praksisutvikling. Akkurat som en kakofoni i musikk kan oppleves som både støy og struktur, viser frasen hvordan faglig utvikling kan skje i spennet mellom kaos og orden. Vi kan omfavne det uforutsigbare og ukontrollerbare, samtidig som vi anerkjenner målrettetheten og intensjonaliteten som også ligger i dialogiske prosesser. Nøkkelord: dialogisme; samarbeid; fag-, praksis- og profesjonsutvikling; samfunnskontekst; oversettelseskompetanse; utviklingsstøtte

We take a dialogic approach to exploring the plurality of voices within ourselves and our discipline in this editorial for the July 2025 issue of Voices.

This editorial invites us to consider how we can take action to promote social justice in turbulent times and enable the long-term flourishing of our societies. It also outlines the articles included in the March 2025 issue.

This is the editorial for the November 2024 issue.

Background: User perspectives and involvement are crucial for improving substance use treatment service provision. First-hand accounts provide rich perspectives on how users experience change within therapeutic approaches like music therapy. People with substance use problems have a higher incidence of experiencing challenges with impulsivity, hyperactivity and inattention. Such challenges can negatively affect social functioning and outcomes of substance use treatment. Music therapy can offer people a means to regulate emotions and facilitate social relationships. There is a lack of research on user perspectives of music therapy in substance use treatment, and we could identify no studies that explore user perspectives of music therapy for adults with substance use problems and co-occurring impulsivity, hyperactivity and inattention. Methods: The aim of this phenomenological study was to center the voices of people living with co-occurring attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and substance use disorder (SUD) to understand how they experience music and music therapy in their process of recovery. We used a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to qualitative analysis of transcripts from in-depth interviews with 8 adult service users from a Norwegian substance use treatment facility. Results: Our main finding was that music and music therapy enabled experiences of motivation and mastery that ultimately afforded social belonging. The participants demonstrated detailed and nuanced understanding of how they use music to steer the energy and restlessness that are characteristic of ADHD, to change mood, and to shift negative thought patterns. These forms of music-centered regulation served as pre-requisites for more active and gratifying participation in social communities. For several participants, musicking offered a means of establishing drug-free identity and fellowship. The motivation and mastery experienced during musicking lowered the threshold for social engagement, and served as an incentive for continuing substance use treatment for some participants. Conclusions: The nuanced descriptions from our participants illustrate the importance of motivation, and how music therapy can contribute to motivation in substance use treatment. In particular, the context surrounding musicking, adaptations from the music therapist, and social affordances of such musicking contributed to pleasure, mastery, participation, development of identity and social belonging, which in interaction generated motivation.

Hospitalisation and treatment for severe and life-threatening illnesses impact a child- or adolescent-in-context, influencing and being influenced by the nested social structures within which the child exists. Music therapy can be a resource-oriented and health-promoting presence while also being trauma-preventive for children and youth impacted by serious illness and hospitalisation. Music therapy offers a family-centred means of connecting with innate resources and thereby helping to buffer against (re)traumatisation in intensive paediatric medical contexts. This chapter explores the role of music therapy as trauma-preventive social-ecological engagement in paediatric medical contexts, while reflecting upon the unique contributions of Norwegian perspectives and theory in this area. Examples from research and clinical practice in Norwegian paediatric medical contexts will be used to illustrate key theoretical constructs including social and ecological perspectives on health and music, and a health-promoting and resource-oriented approach to care.

The hospitalization of a preterm infant in the NICU can lead to mental health difficulties in parents, but not much is known how paternal anxiety might affect the mother-infant relationship. This prospective cohort study is a secondary analysis investigating how paternal anxiety levels might affect maternal bonding in the NICU using the dataset of the multinational pragmatic randomized controlled trial LongSTEP. A linear mixed-effects model was used for correlations of paternal anxiety (GAD-7) and maternal bonding (PBQ) at NICU discharge, and at 6 and 12 months infant corrected age. Secondary analyses examined effects on paternal anxiety related to: site (Argentina, Colombia, Israel, Norway, and Poland), maternal depression (EPDS), infant gestational age at birth, paternal age, and type of pregnancy. Paternal anxiety did not predict maternal bonding at NICU discharge (p = 0.096), at 6 months (p = 0.316), or at 12 months infant corrected age (p = 0.473). Secondary outcomes showed a statistically significant site effect, with higher paternal anxiety levels at the two Colombian sites at baseline (p = 0.014 and p = 0.020) and for one site at discharge (p = 0.012), but not for paternal age (p = 0.925 and p = 0.793), infant gestational age at birth (p = 0.974 and p = 0.686 and p = 0.340), or type of pregnancy (p = 0.381). Maternal depression predicted paternal anxiety at baseline (p < 0.001) and at discharge (p = 0.003). In this study, paternal anxiety did not predict maternal bonding. Paternal anxiety varied by site, indicating a need for research on potential cultural differences in manifestation of paternal anxiety. Maternal depression predicted paternal anxiety, confirming a previously reported correlation. Further research on variations in paternal mental health in the neonatal period is warranted, as well as exploration of the social contagion of mental health in preterm parents. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03564184.

Bereavement services incorporating family-centered practices are emerging within hospital-based care but are often time-limited and lack personalization. This action research single case study explored one father’s experience of music therapy using amplified cardiopulmonary recordings (ACPR) during bereavement following his son’s death by suicide, to critique current norms and inspire transformative change in systems of care. As co-researchers, a bereaved father, his music therapist, and a music therapy researcher used iterative cycles to qualitatively analyze a series of dialogic reflections upon an 8-year experience of ACPR to construct two overarching themes: 1) continuity experienced as compassion, and 2) process of music therapy with ACPR as tool for resilience and positive growth. Aspects of continuity in the ACPR process, in relation with the music therapist, in journeying through grief, and in the heart and heartbeat were perceived as overwhelming compassion that fostered positive growth in the face of profound loss. We see our study as a first step in promoting culture change by exposing underlying practices, assumptions and policies within the context of hospital-based bereavement care and identifying an exceptional example of possibilities. Our findings add to the literature on action research for transformation by demonstrating that the process of relational knowledge co-creation can be perceived as part of the therapeutic journey.

This is an editorial about the articles included in the November 2023 issue.

Anniversaries are often times for recognition and reflection. They mark the passing of time and the changes that have occurred therein. They may be occasions for celebration of shared achievement, fostering a sense of progress, or they may be tied to strong feelings and deep remembrances, challenging our acceptance of the status quo. On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Journal of Music Therapy, we ¹ have been invited to reflect on the journal and its relation to music therapy research (MTR) past, present, and future. We take this task seriously and with an acknowledgement of the power and privilege inherent in our articulation. We are two music therapists, both researchers and educators, who have been shaped by the social, cultural, and political contexts in which we each have learned about and practiced music therapy. We feel it is important to situate ourselves to give context to our perspectives.