“We Could Play Nicely Together—Instead of Just Chaos”

For families where abuse or neglect has led to the child being taken into care, support can be vital for the child’s future life. This qualitative, interpretive study aimed to explore a child’s and parent’s experience of music therapy as a supportive intervention following a period of the child’s p...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Rut Wallius, Stine L. Jacobsen, Alexandra Ullsten
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: GAMUT - Grieg Academy Music Therapy Research Centre (NORCE & University of Bergen) 2025-07-01
Series:Voices
Subjects:
Online Access:https://voices.no/index.php/voices/article/view/4280
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849428598290644992
author Rut Wallius
Stine L. Jacobsen
Alexandra Ullsten
author_facet Rut Wallius
Stine L. Jacobsen
Alexandra Ullsten
author_sort Rut Wallius
collection DOAJ
description For families where abuse or neglect has led to the child being taken into care, support can be vital for the child’s future life. This qualitative, interpretive study aimed to explore a child’s and parent’s experience of music therapy as a supportive intervention following a period of the child’s placement in foster care. The study is based on a semi-structured collaborative interview in which a family dyad, consisting of a parent and a child aged 15 years, were invited to a post-therapy interview two years after the completion of music therapy. We used reflective thematic analysis (Braun & Clark, 2019) to analyse the interview. The findings suggest that the parent-child dyad experienced music therapy positively and contributed to the parent-child relationship. Music therapy was experienced as a safe environment where they felt validated and at home. The dyad described the music as representing the family’s culture and as helpful in transferring knowledge from sessions to everyday life. Using music to create a safe atmosphere, express emotions, and strengthen attachments when children return home after a period in foster care can benefit child protection.
format Article
id doaj-art-ec43acc6704048dbb7e77663541402fd
institution Kabale University
issn 1504-1611
language English
publishDate 2025-07-01
publisher GAMUT - Grieg Academy Music Therapy Research Centre (NORCE & University of Bergen)
record_format Article
series Voices
spelling doaj-art-ec43acc6704048dbb7e77663541402fd2025-08-20T03:28:38ZengGAMUT - Grieg Academy Music Therapy Research Centre (NORCE & University of Bergen)Voices1504-16112025-07-0125210.15845/voices.v25i2.4280“We Could Play Nicely Together—Instead of Just Chaos”Rut Wallius0Stine L. Jacobsen1Alexandra Ullsten2Aalborg University, DenmarkAalborg University, Denmark Centre for Clinical Research and Education, Region Värmland, Sweden and Faculty of Medicine and Health, School of Health Sciences, Örebro University, Sweden For families where abuse or neglect has led to the child being taken into care, support can be vital for the child’s future life. This qualitative, interpretive study aimed to explore a child’s and parent’s experience of music therapy as a supportive intervention following a period of the child’s placement in foster care. The study is based on a semi-structured collaborative interview in which a family dyad, consisting of a parent and a child aged 15 years, were invited to a post-therapy interview two years after the completion of music therapy. We used reflective thematic analysis (Braun & Clark, 2019) to analyse the interview. The findings suggest that the parent-child dyad experienced music therapy positively and contributed to the parent-child relationship. Music therapy was experienced as a safe environment where they felt validated and at home. The dyad described the music as representing the family’s culture and as helpful in transferring knowledge from sessions to everyday life. Using music to create a safe atmosphere, express emotions, and strengthen attachments when children return home after a period in foster care can benefit child protection. https://voices.no/index.php/voices/article/view/4280child protectionfoster carereunification interventionfamilies at riskmusic therapycollaborative interview
spellingShingle Rut Wallius
Stine L. Jacobsen
Alexandra Ullsten
“We Could Play Nicely Together—Instead of Just Chaos”
Voices
child protection
foster care
reunification intervention
families at risk
music therapy
collaborative interview
title “We Could Play Nicely Together—Instead of Just Chaos”
title_full “We Could Play Nicely Together—Instead of Just Chaos”
title_fullStr “We Could Play Nicely Together—Instead of Just Chaos”
title_full_unstemmed “We Could Play Nicely Together—Instead of Just Chaos”
title_short “We Could Play Nicely Together—Instead of Just Chaos”
title_sort we could play nicely together instead of just chaos
topic child protection
foster care
reunification intervention
families at risk
music therapy
collaborative interview
url https://voices.no/index.php/voices/article/view/4280
work_keys_str_mv AT rutwallius wecouldplaynicelytogetherinsteadofjustchaos
AT stineljacobsen wecouldplaynicelytogetherinsteadofjustchaos
AT alexandraullsten wecouldplaynicelytogetherinsteadofjustchaos