Distinguishing type of music-based interventions in clinical research and improving the quality of reporting

Music-based interventions have been utilized to address a wide array of health issues and symptoms for patients in many different clinical settings. This growing body of research surrounding the use of music-based interventions is due to the acceptability, accessibility, and versatility of music-based interventions with patients across the lifespan. Further, this has fostered an increasing number of researchers from diverse disciplines to engage in examining the use of music-based interventions to meet patient needs. As a result, there is a need for clear, accurate, and detailed descriptions when reporting music-based interventions. Thorough descriptions of music-based interventions ensure there is an understanding of how the music was implemented in the study, provides sufficient information for future researchers to replicate a study, and provides a clear description of the protocol to allow researchers and clinicians to determine how to tailor and adapt the intervention for the clinical environment. This article provides descriptions of the different types of music-based interventions and a rationale for, and the benefit of, providing accurate and detailed narratives of the intervention. Suggesting guidelines for reporting music-based interventions will be reviewed and five different music-based intervention studies will be analyzed and reviewed utilizing these suggested guidelines.