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Abstract
Australian Music therapists are being called upon to work with an elderly population that is increasingly culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD). This study addresses the shortage of research in the following areas: 1) cross-cultural music therapy methods; 2) aged CALD clients; and 3) group work. An online questionnaire was circulated to 88 practising music therapists working in aged care in Australia. Data were gathered regarding frequently used methods, music genre and styles, utilisation of culturally specific music idioms, and challenges and strategies in working with CALD clients. The results suggest that cross-cultural music therapy practice in aged care is influenced by the following: personal experience and professional training, and the client's background, abilities, level of acculturation and musical preference. The study concludes with recommendations for training music therapists in future.
Keywords: cross-cultural music therapy, aged care, music therapy methods, CALD clients.
Introduction
Elderly Australians in the twenty-first century represent an everincreasing diversity of ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds; the same is true of both music therapists and music therapy students. The changing demographics of both client and therapist provide unique challenges in music therapy training, preparation and practice.
For example, the principle author of this study is of Hong Kong -Chinese background. Since her migration to Australia, she went through various cultural adjustments that impacted the way she relates to people around her. Her work as a music therapist working with older adults in a multicultural aged care facility has made her even more aware of linguistic and cultural barriers in music therapy practice. Due to these experiences, she concluded that her training did not adequately address the important issues of cross-cultural practice. The author constantly seeks to adjust her methods with the aim of fostering socio-cultural integration amongst her CALD clients and she believes that other music therapists, with different clients, training, personal style or theoretical orientation will also develop their own blend of cross-cultural music therapy methods. With this understanding, the author became interested in surveying methods used in cross-cultural music therapy.
Research addressing cross-cultural music therapy is limited. Some music therapists have written about their personal experiences in this area (Amir, 1998; Dos Santos, 2005; Forrest, 2000; Ikuno, 2005; Yehuda, 2002); about cross-cultural training and supervision (Estrella, 2001; Forinash, 2001;...