A mixed methods survey of music therapists who work with adolescents with adverse experiences: Examining the trends of client advocacy

The purpose of this mixed methods survey was to document the trends of advocacy for adolescents with adverse experiences, as well as understand those experiences. Advocacy from music therapists was generally defined as any action that speaks in favor of, recommends, argues for a cause, supports or defends, or pleads on the behalf of their adolescent clients who has had adverse experiences. An adolescent with adverse experiences was defined as someone who faces extreme threats to successfully transitioning into adulthood. For qualitative data analysis, all narratives were coded using inductive coding, bottom to top process where the categories emerge from the data. All quantitative questions were reported using statistical analysis through PsychData. To analyze the quantitative data, statistical mean, percentages, and ranges were calculated and graphed for each question. The qualitative data was then used to explain the quantitative data. The results suggest that music therapists are aware of the importance of and need for client advocacy, and those that engage in client advocacy as a part of their work can see how it benefits their clients. However, client advocacy is still under-addressed in formal education, continued education, and in music therapy standards and competencies.