Developing the profession

Description of sub-theme:

Participants referred to the tendency observed in themselves and others towards moving the profession forward. Knowledge about practice constantly changes, through a research-led approach. Research anticipates and creates change, and practice in therapy is about

‘change’ in its definition. What we know morphs and adapts and this sub-theme encompassed

participants’ observations about how research and practice contributed to change and the

growth of knowledge.

Some of the sub-themes outlined here feature in other chapters, indicating some dove-tailing of the main themes, but in each case they feature the idea of participants acknowledging how contributions are made to helping the discipline grow, change and build on its work.

One aspect of this topic was alluded to several times by a researcher participant in Site KT who showed how another profession’s traditions and ‘materials’ might be used and adapted for music therapy’s disciplinary gain. She was dual-trained, coming to music therapy from another allied health discipline and gave a number of examples of tools she had borrowed and developed over a career of 2 to 3 decades. A source of pleasure was how that had meant that she could contribute back to her own original discipline from music therapy after her exploration of the tools in music therapy and now published in journals in that area. This was an obvious example of interdisciplinary growth and development and how each discipline could benefit from the advances of the other. She also

acknowledged that that her original discipline gave some frameworks and approaches that allowed her to question approaches in music therapy, which added rigour or weight to her inquiry:

(My original profession) taught me to kind of look at theory,(it)…. taught me to look beyond music therapy. It gave me the strength to be able to question fundamental premises like (one particular approach being)… the only way for music therapy. (Alex 342-345)

The student participants at Site KT noticed how current issues being discussed in the professional field could be topics of interest to them for their research studies on the programme, suggesting that they already had a sense that they could contribute to the developing landscape of professional thought. An example of this was the more junior student who was just working on selecting a topic and although the clinical placement opportunities were attractive for her research, different attitudes to spirituality highlighted at a conference, and then followed up in the literature, had really grabbed her attention and would probably be more manageable as a Masters’ topic. She had recently found an article which identified some controversy and thought this would something of value for her to follow up:

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Spirituality … it’s a topic that we skirt around and we don’t really talk about it and (the author) said that ‘cos she teaches this,… she would always avoid talking about it in class and wouldn’t understand why anyone would bring spirituality into it. But then she had sort of changed her opinion on it throughout her years and said actually it is something we must acknowledge as therapists and teachers. Just to accept the diversity of the range of religions and spiritualities and also reflect on how it affects our practice. I think personally that that’s important. (Naomi 187-193)

She noted her own place in the topic – it had a personal relevance and in her interview went on to elaborate why in some depth. This participant had already undertaken research at honours level, and perhaps had experience and belief that research could contribute new knowledge, and by identifying gaps in professional understanding she could begin to develop a way of making a contribution herself.

The senior student saw herself as a contributor to a team of researchers, by working in an assigned area of a bigger project. She did her part of the analysis and then checked things out with the lead researcher, her supervisor, and in doing this she was learning research skills and being guided, but also providing very useful input to the project and knew that she was making a difference.

I've been sort of working on the data and then emailing it through to (my supervisor) and saying, "What do you think?" And then she'd provide a second opinion, and we kind of have conversations about it like that. So really it's (pause), I guess we've been working on it

together….. I think you learn a lot more that way too, because a lot of times she'd give me

feedback and I'd think, "Oh, I hadn't thought of it quite like that." And then I can actually take it to the next level. (Abby 301-312).

Later she went on to affirm this more strongly and particularly noticed that it was having research involved in her conception of her practitioner career that added to her sense of purpose and achievement (as noted in the previous chapter, section 4.2.9)

The clinical practice lecturer participant at Site KT firmly believed that being interested and willing to develop research in a hospital setting, and the evidence-based approach that she adopted had had a significant impact on the hospital team’s respect and enthusiasm for including music therapy as part of their services. Interestingly to me, she began with a research study in a new area of the hospital, and it was definitely the research that develops the practice in this case:

. Ihad no clinical experience to base it on, other than all the reading I’d done. So, what was good about the project - we didn’t get significant results - but what was wonderful is that…. everyone knew about it, they got used to seeing me around, we ran the project for a couple of months and then I in-serviced and presented all the results. (Helena 95-101).

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This moved the discipline forward in practical ways. More staff members were employed and new programmes developed. The willingness to engage in research as a practitioner took its toll on the participant’s time, but she grew her department rapidly and with the goodwill of the team.

Already noted earlier in section 4.2.6, one lecturer-researcher participant indicated how her

supervisors anticipated a future trend in the discipline towards examining the music more centrally in the evaluation of music therapy process, and they guided the participant (when a student researcher) towards doing a music-centred study. This was another part of observing a gap in knowledge, and trusting the supervisor’s greater sense of where the discipline is heading as she says

“

it wasn’t documented, it really wasn’t and … my supervisors would have known that it was a wave that was happening across the profession but I obviously didn’t know that.” (Bella 107-109) The idea of engaging the student in real contributions to the discipline, and in the supervisor recognising a student’s potential, were all significant factors in the process of building a profession’s knowledge base. Getting students engaged in topical or timely conversations for the discipline from an early point would seem to enrich the meaning of their work and give a sense of belonging and ownership.

Students at both sites exemplified this in the conversations. For this to work, mutual trust with student and supervisor was necessary, and supervisors being well-informed and interested in current

international trends. Sometimes it was the student who informs the supervisor, as where Beatrice’s noted her supervisor’s willingness to be persuaded about something she wishes to inquire about. “And

he said ‘Well that’s true –it hasn’t been done before.” (Beatrice 41-42). So she embarked on her new

area of practice investigation.

An example of how practitioner research approaches develop and grow over time was given in passing by Alex, who observed the radical changes in research ethics’ approval process which were now part-and-parcel of any music therapy project with vulnerable participants. In her early research studies three decades earlier,

…in some of these places, well at XXX Hospital I started doing the work that I described with

the people with advanced illnesses, there wasn’t even an ethics committee, let alone be

thinking in terms of research. Like we weren’t using those constructs at the time.

(Alex 299-303)

She reflected that her approach to the people in these early studies was particularly careful because of clinical ethical responsibilities in her practitioner training and that had prepared her well for the current very stringent requirements when researching with such a vulnerable group. There was an implication here in both site visits that the learning about ethics has enormous potential for cross- fertilisation, through understanding both practitioner and researcher responsibilities, and perhaps one of the strongest arguments for integrated teaching about both I have yet found. Because of the strong

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ethical code for practice of music therapy in international settings, there was potential for valuable contributions to debates about research ethics, similarly experience with research ethics could teach practitioners elegantly about the dilemmas that might remain covert in practice settings; research made the issues more explicit.

All the participants in this site were female and I observed interesting commentary from two staff participants differentiating how men and women might progress disciplines, or at least how gender politics might indicate the different roles. From my Research Journal reflecting on attending a class at Site KT on research methods, I commented that one of the lecturers:

…. notes in passing in her lecture on the development of an area of research investigation, and laughing as she spoke, that ‘men tend to need to make their mark’ on the discipline and put their name to something. (This comes up because she is referring to all the many different versions of the research method that have been referenced.) It was interesting for me, as

someone who would tend to ‘play down’ gender politics more than emphasise them, to have

this articulated. (R J. 2nd October 2010)

It did have an impact on my thinking, so in another interview on this site later in the visit, the issue arose again (and I suppose I was trying to work out what a ‘female’ approach might be) I mentioned it to the interviewee, researcher-lecturer Bella, in response to the comment she made about fostering connections (section 4.2.9) I observed:

Sarah:….I guess I’m sort of picking up a bit of a theme from Beatrice when she was lecturing

the other day and she was saying the male way would be to sort of ‘put your mark on things’ and.. (for you) It’s actually building on the things that other people have made and making it

so that it’s more understandable, … Bella: Oh absolutely and I definitely have taken that

from her without question, it’s not a desire to put my name to anything.’ (245-246)

The ethos that emerged to me from this site was one of collaboration and sharing roles and each clinical and research supervisor talked about either working with students (Bella, Alex), working with colleagues in varied ways in their research about practice (Beatrice, Helena) and in practice roles which have potential to develop into research (Alex, Helena). The students also discussed this. Researcher-supervisor Alex summed up the value of this mutuality, particularly in how it affected and developed the capacity of students:

And it’s been very gratifying to see one of those students refer to this work in her own articles

and chapters in her own far more advanced research…and see that work I think affect her

future career path overseas. in fact some of the, I think the greatest satisfaction I have is in watching that, in watching the careers develop. (Alex 145-148 &166-8)

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5.1.7 Experiencing being at a crossroads: the opportunity for change

In document Enabling the curious practitioner : perceptions on the integration of research and practice in the education of music therapy students at Masters' level : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Music, (Page 142-146)