The University of Kansas, USA.
J Music Ther. 2011 Fall;48(3):317-45. doi: 10.1093/jmt/48.3.317.
The discipline of child life enjoys a strong presence in many medical settings within the current pediatric healthcare environment. Due to the widespread establishment of child life programs, music therapists often find themselves negotiating their role and contributions to pediatric healthcare in relation to the field of child life. There is increasing interest among music therapy interns and clinicians in pursuing certification in child life to increase clinical knowledge and enhance marketability. A small, but strong, cohort of dual-certified music therapists/child life specialists is currently practicing in the field, but the nuances of their clinical practice have not been systematically examined. The current study used an interpretative phenomenological approach to explore the lived experiences of eight dual-certified clinicians, and to interpret how clinicians make sense of those lived experiences. Two overarching themes of identity and flexibility arose from the analysis: issues relating to establishing, challenging, and modifying professional identity; and flexibility manifested within areas of theoretical orientation, professional role, and clinical approach. Dual-certified clinicians vary in the degree to which they integrate the fields of music therapy and child life in practice, from complete and seamless integration of the two, to exclusive practice of only one field, depending upon the bounds of their positions. Participants reported that child life training is beneficial, but not necessary for achieving advanced practice in pediatric medical music therapy. Implications for the continuing advancement of music therapy in pediatric healthcare are discussed.
儿童生活学科在当前儿科医疗环境中的许多医疗环境中都有很强的存在。由于儿童生活项目的广泛建立，音乐治疗师经常发现自己在与儿童生活领域相关的方面协商他们的角色和对儿科医疗保健的贡献。音乐治疗实习医生和临床医生越来越有兴趣获得儿童生活认证，以增加临床知识并提高市场竞争力。目前，有一小部分但实力很强的双重认证音乐治疗师/儿童生活专家在该领域实践，但他们的临床实践的细微差别尚未系统地检查过。本研究采用解释性现象学方法来探索八位双重认证临床医生的生活体验，并解释临床医生如何理解这些生活体验。从分析中出现了两个总体主题：身份和灵活性：与建立、挑战和修改专业身份有关的问题；以及在理论取向、专业角色和临床方法领域表现出的灵活性。双重认证的临床医生在实践中整合音乐治疗和儿童生活领域的程度各不相同，从完全和无缝的整合到仅单独实践一个领域，具体取决于他们的职位范围。参与者报告说，儿童生活培训对于在儿科医疗音乐治疗中实现高级实践是有益的，但并非必要。讨论了音乐治疗在儿科医疗保健中不断发展的影响。
