Gaute Kjølner Andersen: Observing effectiveness of music therapy in mental health care

Field of study: Music Therapy/Music and Health

Complete (working)title: Does it even register? — Observing effectiveness of music therapy in mental health care through registry data, a mixed methods study of coding practices and outcome.

The research question is: "How might registry-data be used to research the effectiveness of music therapy within the field of mental health care?"

The project will result in an article-based dissertation about music therapy (MT) in the Norwegian mental health care for adults (MHCA).

First, Andersen will conduct a qualitative comparative case study to explore music therapists’ and health trust managers’ perceptions of procedure coding practices. Second, he will conduct a retrospective register-based case-control study on patients exposed to MT over an observational period of five years. Finally, he will offer new perspectives on the quantitative results with the aid of qualitative findings on coding practices.