title: An audit about music therapy assessments and recommendations for adult patients suspected to be in a low awareness state.
abstract: In neuro-rehabilitation, the role of music therapy is expanding to include assessment of patients with severely-altered states of consciousness. Diagnosis of these conditions is a complex task for all, and cases of misdiagnosis have been reported. Aggregated findings from 33 music therapy assessments of patients suspected of being in a low awareness state are described and discussed here. The Music Therapy Assessment Tool for Low Awareness States (MATLAS) was used during these assessments. All assessments were offered as part of a specialist multidisciplinary assessment package. A brief description of the patient group is supplied, along with details regarding the assessment tool and the recommendations that followed. In summary, a difference in the time it took to assess patients in vegetative state (VS) as compared to those in minimally conscious state (MCS) was found and, on average, the assessment of those in VS took less time to complete than for those in MCS. A greater range in session length was found for patients in VS, as compared to those in MCS. Generally after the assessments, patients in VS were likely to be admitted to a sensory regulation group administered by a music therapy assistant, supervised by a qualified music therapist, to enable the continued collection of behavioral responses to stimuli. Patients in MCS were admitted to a music therapy treatment program offered by a qualified music therapist. Ongoing work is recommended to advance the assessment and treatment of this patient population, and to consolidate the role of music therapy with this population.
authors.affiliation: The Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability, West Hill Putney London. barbara.daveson@kcl.ac.uk
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Daveson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D001364:Awareness; D003243:Consciousness; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008131:London; D008297:Male; D008606:Mental Processes / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009146:Music; D009147:Music Therapy / Q000379:methods; D018458:Persistent Vegetative State / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy