This study explores the experiences of a group of music therapy students in setting up and working at three community placements: a residential home for the mentally disabled, an HIV/Aids clinic at a state hospital and a shelter for homeless boys. The study investigates how these students made use of a Community Music Therapy framework in conducting, reflecting on and discussing the music therapy work at these placements. The research was conducted utilizing qualitative research methodology and data were in the form of three semi-structured interviews which were conducted with the six students - two from each placement. Transcriptions of the interviews were subjected to content analysis by the researcher and these findings are discussed in relation to seven categories, namely Space and Boundaries, Performance, Community Music Therapy Theory, Staff’s varying Attitudes and Involvement, Goals and Value, Logistics and Challenges, and Students’ Personal Development. Lastly three themes that emerged from the data, namely Shifting the boundaries: music therapy inside and out; Interacting with the context and Students’ development: professional and personal growth, are discussed. / Dissertation (MMus)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / gm2014 / Music / Unrectricted

The understanding of why students decide to become music therapists is valuable information for music therapy educators and policy makers and published information is lacking. The use of expectancy-value theory provides a framework to understand student choices. Researchers can better understand why students purse a career in music therapy by examining students’ abilities, beliefs, expectancies, and values related to the choice. The purpose of this study was to examine why current undergraduate and equivalency students want to be music therapists. Music therapy students (N = 129) throughout the United States provided insight into their decision to become music therapists by completing a survey with questions about their expectancies and values. Results indicated that both undergraduate and equivalency students tended to choose to be music therapists because they expected music therapy to be a career that requires hard work and expert knowledge while maintaining their interest and morale. Results of a correlational analysis suggest there are several choice-making variables that may influence each other, indicating that the decision to become a music therapist is a complex process for students. Finally, the results of a Mann-Whitney U test suggested that there was no significant difference between the expectancies and values that influenced undergraduate and equivalency students’ choices to become music therapists. Music therapists in many capacities may use this information to improve recruitment and engagement of music therapy students.

The purpose of the study was to examine factors such as the number of years lived in the U.S., English proficiency, neuroticism, openness, and music therapy student academic stress (MTSAS) that predict acculturative stress among international music therapy students studying in the U.S. An on-line survey was conducted with a U.S. sample of international music therapy students. Among the 134 participants who originally came from 25 countries returned the survey, 97 with complete data (88 women and 9 men; 38 undergraduate and 59 graduate students) were included in the main analyses. Results showed this sample had a substantially higher mean on acculturative stress (M = 83.04) than the normative mean (M = 66.32) reported by Sandhu and Asrabadi (1994). In addition, 13 participants' (12.89%) scores were within the "high risk" category, indicating the need for psychological intervention. Asian students were found to have experienced a higher level of acculturative stress than their European counterparts. There were no significant differences found between undergraduate and graduate students relating to levels of acculturative stress. Correlational analyses indicated that acculturative stress had significant correlations with level of English proficiency, neuroticism, and MTSAS. There were no significant findings regarding years lived in the U.S., openness, and level of acculturative stress. Regression analyses revealed that (a) the entire set of 5 aforementioned predictors accounted for 41% of variance in acculturative stress, which is considered a large effect size, and (b) among these predictors, English proficiency, neuroticism, and MTSAS appeared to be the most powerful predictors of acculturative stress. In addition, making presentations, taking exams, and participating in class discussion were found to be the most stressful classroom activities. Implications for music therapy and future research directions are discussed. / Music Therapy