The State of the UK Music Therapy Profession

Abstract

This paper outlines the findings from a self-administered postal questionnaire to the UK music therapy profession carried out in June 1997. It details the background to the study, its design and methodology, the results and their implications. The survey gathered data on the personal qualities used in practice, working models, support networks and job satisfaction among UK music therapists. Taken together, these responses were deemed an indication of the overall ‘state of the profession’. Further, an attempt was made to ascertain a correlation between job satisfaction and other variables as a way of delineating a profile of a ‘job-satisfied music therapist’. Key results indicated a profession of diverse individuals, more likely to be balancing part-time music therapy work than to be employed in a full-time post. They indicated a profession with cohesive personal qualities underlying its practice, and more definitive priorities for working models. They revealed a profession more likely to describe itself as ‘supported’ and ‘satisfied’ than either ‘very supported/satisfied’, ‘quite supported/mixed feelings’, ‘unsupported/dissatisfied’ or ‘very unsupported/dissatisfied’. They identified clinical supervision and communication with colleagues and carers as the two most significant support networks among the sample. A statistically significant correlation was established between the level of professional support experienced and job satisfaction.