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  4. Meaning Making Process and Recovery Journeys Explored Through Songwriting in Early Neurorehabilitation: Exploring the Perspectives of Participants of Their Self-Composed Songs Through the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

Meaning Making Process and Recovery Journeys Explored Through Songwriting in Early Neurorehabilitation: Exploring the Perspectives of Participants of Their Self-Composed Songs Through the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

Frontiers in Psychology, 2018 · DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01422 · Published: August 7, 2018

Alternative MedicineMental HealthNeurorehabilitation

Simple Explanation

This study looks at how people recovering from brain or spinal cord injuries use songwriting to understand their experiences. Participants wrote songs about their past, present, and future selves. The researchers found that the songwriting process helped people make sense of their injuries and rebuild their sense of self. The analysis identified four distinct recovery journeys. These journeys included re-evaluating values, finding inner strength, confirming existing beliefs, or still searching for answers. Songwriting can be a helpful tool in neurorehabilitation to help people adjust to their new reality.

Study Duration
6-week intervention, with 6-12 month follow-up
Participants
15 individuals with ABI or SCI
Evidence Level
Not specified

Key Findings

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    The study identified four distinct recovery journeys: reconceptualizing values, recognizing inner resources, confirming existing values, and an ongoing process of negotiating discrepancies in self.
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    Participants were able to negotiate discrepancies in identity continuity as they reconnected with their values, relationships, family roles, and social roles.
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    The songwriting process enabled participants to explore their self-concept, grief process, and reconceptualize their future selves.

Research Summary

This study explored the experiences of individuals in early rehabilitation who participated in an identity-focused songwriting intervention. The study found that participants were able to constructively use a therapeutic songwriting process to reflect on and explore aspects of their pre-injured self, present self, and an imagined future self. The research shows that through the creation of personally meaningful songs, participants had the opportunity to reconceptualise what is valuable to them, utilize their inner resources, confirm their values, and identify coping strategies.

Practical Implications

Clinical Practice

Recognizing transformative moments that match one of the four possible recovery journeys might inform whether further exploration is needed.

Therapeutic Tool

Songwriting can be used to convey mixed or ambivalent emotions or to further intensify the meaning of the lyrics.

Future Research

Future research could explore and compare aspects of the music therapy process by improvising on the referential theme of past self, then on present self, and then on an imagined future self.

Study Limitations

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