Content analysis of specialist interviews in the development of the music therapy activity system

Abstract

The study aims to define the needs and specification of a music therapy system based on music therapy programs designed for elderly dementia patients. The mobile music therapy system proposed from this study will allow music therapy to no longer be restricted by location, time, and instrument needs, while at the same time preserving the emphasis of music therapy on personalization, wide choice, and options of both active and passive activities. In order to evaluate whether the designed activities meet the needs of dementia patient and their caregivers, the present study utilized a semi-structured interview format to collect perspectives from three different music therapists on the system; the vocabulary content of the responses were then subjected to linguistic analysis to determine the suitability of the system structure for user needs. The results demonstrated that music therapists approved of the system functions and confirmed its suitability for its target populations. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.