A survey of music therapists in private practice

The purpose of this study was to gather information from music therapists in private practice regarding reasons for pursuing private practice, business policies, marketing strategies, feelings regarding business skills training, and overall satisfaction with private practice.

Subjects for this study were 245 music therapists living in the United States who listed themselves as self-employed/private practice music therapists in a survey sent by the National Association for Music Therapy, Inc. (NAMT, 1995). In the current study a survey was sent to each of these music therapists. Fifty-four percent of those surveyed responded. The results indicated that this type of employment is extremely variable in most aspects of items included in the survey. Results also indicated that music therapists in private practice had a high level of overall job satisfaction.