New free online resource

Launch of New Free Online Resource: Outcome Measures in Music Therapy

What is in this resource?

Developed by the Nordoff Robbins research team, this free online resource provides information about outcome measures developed in and for the field of music therapy.

Why develop such a resource?

Though assessment has been integral to music therapy practice and research for quite some time, the drive to use outcome measures has increased in recent years. Identifying the most suitable outcome measure for a given music therapy client group or setting can be a difficult process and, indeed, there are many possible reasons why music therapists may not use such measures. One reason could be the limited awareness of existing measures: Searching for research publications is a time consuming (and, at times, confusing) task. This is where we hope this resource helps: it provides a systematic overview of outcome measures in music therapy along with some of their key features.

Why is it special?

To our knowledge, this is the only such resource collating information about music therapy outcome measures that is freely available online.

Debates, questions and the future

There are of course many debates about whether, how and when outcome measures, such as those collated in this resource, are appropriate, relevant or useful. Here we make no judgement about how well-regarded or useful these measures might be; our aim is to increase awareness of what is available in the field, so that relevance and usefulness can be judged according to the context in which practitioners and researchers might use them.

We hope you find the Outcome Measures in Music Therapy useful in identifying suitable outcome measures for your work. We envisage to periodically update this resource.

If you have any suggestions for amendments, updates or additions, please don’t hesitate to contact us: research@nordoff-robbins.org.uk.