| Title: |
Study protocol of a randomized control trial on the effectiveness of improvisational music therapy for autistic children. |
| Authors: |
Jaschke, AC; Howlin, C; Pool, J; Greenberg, YD; Atkinson, R; Kovalova, A; Merriam, E; Pallás-Ferrer, I; Williams, S; Moore, C; Hayden, K; Allison, C; Odell-Miller, H; Baron-Cohen, S |
| Publisher Information: |
Springer Nature; //doi.org/10.1186/s12888-024-06086-3 |
| Publication Year: |
2024 |
| Collection: |
Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository |
| Subject Terms: |
Autism; Music Therapy; Protocol; Randomised Control Trial; Social Communication; Child; Female; Humans; Male; Anxiety; Autistic Disorder; Treatment Outcome; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; Pragmatic Clinical Trials as Topic |
| Description: |
Acknowledgements: The authors would like to thank the Autistic community and the Community Engagement Group for providing regular feedback on the study and the development of the current protocol. ; BACKGROUND: Music therapy is the clinical use of musical interventions to improve mental and physical health across multiple domains, including social communication. Autistic children, who have difficulties in social communication and often increased anxiety, tend to show a strong preference for music, because it can be structured and systematic, and therefore more predictable than social interaction. This makes music therapy a promising medium for therapeutic support and intervention. Previous clinical trials of music therapy compared to traditional therapy for autistic children have shown encouraging but nevertheless mixed results. KEY AIMS: The primary aim is to conduct a randomised controlled trial (RCT) of improvisational music therapy for autistic children and test its effectiveness in at improving social communication and wellbeing, and to reduce anxiety. RESEARCH PLAN: The RCT will be conducted with 200 autistic children in the UK aged 7 to 11 years old. Participants will be randomly assigned to either improvisational music therapy or support as usual. The trial will be an assessor-blind, pragmatic two-arm cluster RCT comparing the impact of 12-weeks of improvisational music therapy in addition to support as usual, vs. support as usual for autistic children. METHODS: Researchers who are blind to which arm the children are in will conduct assessments and obtain data via caregiver reports. The primary outcome will be the absolute change in the total score of the Brief Observation of Social Communication Change (BOSCC) assessed at baseline, T1 (13 weeks) and T2 (39 weeks) follow-ups. The BOSCC consists of specific items that were developed to identify changes in social-communication behaviours. Secondary outcome measures include: (1) Parent reported anxiety scale for youth with ASD (Note that we do not use the ... |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| File Description: |
application/pdf; application/zip; text/xml |
| Language: |
English |
| Relation: |
6086; https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/376345 |
| Availability: |
https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/376345 |
| Rights: |
Attribution 4.0 International ; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.5A32B577 |
| Database: |
BASE |