Musik og sundhedsfremme i Danmark og i Norden – hvem og hvordan?

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of health promotion through music activities and interventions in Danish/Nordic hospitals during the last twenty years, and to discuss theoretical rationales and practical problems related to these relatively new initiatives. Themethodology is a mixture ofheuristics and literature review. The author has been an active agent in this field – as clinician, researcher, supervisor and teacher – and has taken part in the deve- lopment of the theoretical concept of »health musicking« which is a framework for many of the agents in the field. Findings include a presentation of the present evidence base for music interventions in Nordic hospitals and a syste- matic overview of agents in the field. There is a growing body of evidence from different types of research studies in the Nordic countries; however, the specific evidence is still limited. Two different approaches to the implementation ofmusic therapy/music medicine in hospitals are identified and discussed, and practical implications are highlighted in a number ofrecommendations for agents in the field. The value ofthe essay is that no current overview ofthe field is available, and therefore both findings and discussions present an original research- and experience-based contributionbution to the development of health promotion through musicking in hospitals. Keywords