ASSESSMENT TOOLS IN MUSIC THERAPY: A REVIEW

Abstract

The practice of music therapy was only consolidated after 1950. Nowadays, music therapy is not only applied in healthy patients, but also in those with a wide variety of clinical conditions. Assessment tools validated through psychometric research allow a scientifically based assessment amid the subjectivity that is music and emotions. This article aims at achieving a global view of the existing assessment tools in the Brazilian and in the international literature and their applicability. As a result, 55 assessment tools in music therapy published between 1971 and 2017 were found, of which 37 present references to psychometric research. Nine of them had references or were validated in Brazil. The assessment tools were classified according to their area of clinical application: Global Developmental Disorder, Learning and Emotional Disorders; Elderly, Dementia and Psychiatric Disorders; Disorders of Consciousness and Other Applications. Due to its complex and subjective content, many tools are difficult to apply and reproduce. Although there is a large number of assessment tools in music therapy published in the literature, more studies are needed for their improvement, synthesis and validation, allowing their use in clinical and scientific research.