Review: The effectiveness of musical therapy in improving depression and anxiety symptoms among children and adolescents - a systematic review
- Forfatter(e)
- Belski, N. Abdul-Rahman, Z. Youn, E. Balasundaram, V. Diep, D.
- År
- 2021
- Tidsskrift
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health
- Sider
- 9
- Kategori(er)
- Depresjon og nedstemthet (inkl. både vansker og lidelse) Angst og engstelighet (inkl. både vansker og lidelse)
- Tiltakstype(r)
- Musikk/kunst- og uttrykksterapi
- Abstract
Background: Depression and anxiety disorders are considered to be among the greatest burdens of disease in children and adolescents. Recent literature has reported music therapy to be a safe and potentially effective intervention for the treatment of depression and anxiety. This systematic review examined the effectiveness of music therapy in reducing the symptom severity of depression and/or anxiety among children and adolescents.
Methods: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were obtained from a systematic search of nine major English databases from inception to January 2021. Studies were categorized by outcome, music therapy technique and follow-up period.
Results: Seven RCTs (n = 589) were included. Four RCTs had some concern of bias, while three had high risk of bias. Statistical pooling was not appropriate due to clinical heterogeneity. Four studies (n = 428) favoured music therapy for improvement of depressive symptoms at short- and intermediate-term follow-ups compared to control. One study (n = 106) favoured music therapy for improvement of anxiety symptoms at short-term follow-up compared to control. No studies favoured any control over music therapy for symptom improvement of depression and/or anxiety.
Conclusion: Limited evidence suggests music therapy is an effective treatment for improving depression and/or anxiety symptom severity in children and adolescents. More high-quality RCTs are needed to address methodological flaws of current studies.