Four decades of music therapy behavioral research designs:: A content analysis of Journal of Music Therapy articles

This article updates previous content analyses of the Journal of Music Therapy (JMT) and presents information regarding the behavioral research approach to music therapy as reflected by published studies. JMT articles from 1964 through 1999 were examined to determine if the methodology included a behavioral research design (e.g., reversal, multiple baseline). Case studies not meeting the design criteria were excluded from the sample as were experimental group studies using a behavioral observation method or behavioral technique within a traditional statistical design. Experimental studies, however in which behavioral research designs were included in treatment conditions and assigned to different groups were included. Articles meeting the behavioral research design criteria were analyzed to determine the type of design, the behavioral observation method and reliability report, the client population, and the music application. Of the 607 articles published in JMT, 96 or 15.8% included a behavioral research design. The lowest percentage occurred in the earliest volumes of JMT during the latter part of the 60s. An increase in behavioral research articles occurred during the 70s and 80s and continued throughout the 90s. Other findings include the following: (a) the most prevalent design was the reversal (ABA) with many variations; (b) the predominant observation methods were frequency counts and interval recording with an increase in observation reliability reports in the 80s and 90s; (c) studies published during the 80s and 90s included a wide variety of client populations compared to the 60s and 70s predominant applications with mental retardation and emotional disturbances; (d) the contingent application of music was highest during the 70s and 80s and virtually nonexistent during the 60s and 90s when other treatment conditions employed music as noncontingent background stimulus, an activity for structuring responses, and a cue for maintaining nonmusic responses. The increase in articles through the decades coupled with the increased diversity of populations suggests that behavioral research designs are flexible and applicable in music therapy practice today as much as they were during the initial phase during the 70s and 80s.