Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2017 Music Therapy with Immigrants from Spanish Speaking Countries: A Survey of Families' Perspectives and Experiences of Music Therapy for Their Loved Ones in Hospice Care Akiya Imani McQueen Follow this and additional works at the DigiNole: FSU's Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected] FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF MUSIC MUSIC THERAPY WITH IMMIGRANTS FROM SPANISH SPEAKING COUNTRIES: A SURVEY OF FAMILIES' PERSPECTIVES AND EXPERIENCES OF MUSIC THERAPY FOR THEIR LOVED ONES IN HOSPICE CARE By AKIYA IMANI MCQUEEN A Thesis submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Music 2017 Akiyla Mc Queen defended this thesis on April 7, 2017. The members of the supervisory committee were: Jayne Standley Professor Directing Thesis Dianne Gregory Committee Member Clifford Madsen Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the thesis has been approved in accordance with university requirements. ii I dedicate this thesis to my family, who have supported me to no end throughout my graduate school career. Thank you all so much for your unconditional love and everlasting support. Everything that I do is for us, and I feel so blessed to look into each of your faces and know that my life has so much purpose and is filled with so much beauty, I couldn’t ask for anything more! To my peers who offered supportive advice and loving kindness, I thank you deeply—I’m glad FSU led me to you! I also would like to dedicate this thesis to my internship supervisor/colleague Stephanie Riggs, for mentoring me and representing such a commendable example of what it means to be a Music Therapist. To my co-workers and co-investigators, thank you all for believing in me and supporting me on this journey, and for making me feel a part of the team from day one. You all are exceptional at what you do—I am so glad to have met you, and to be learning and sharing in this wonderful career path with you. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would first like to acknowledge Dr. Jayne Standley for her continuous support throughout my path to becoming a music therapist. A dignified professor and music therapist, Dr. Standley works endlessly to ensure that her students receive exactly what they need. During times when I faced personal changes and challenges, she helped to guide me in the right direction so that all of this would be possible. I am grateful for all that she has done for me and could not have made it this far without her advice and support. I would also like to acknowledge the other members of my supervisory team, Professor Dianne Gregory and Dr. Clifford Madsen, who are both excellent professors. Always a delight to encounter, Professor Dianne Gregory has a smile that can light up a room. Her passion for teaching and her love of music therapy are insurmountable. She has taught me so much about incorporating compassion for patients and quality of care into my work. all the while pushing me to exemplify excellence. I am truly grateful for her guidance and support. Dr. Madsen is a memorable professor whose unique teaching style has changed so many lives. I am always in search of the underlining meanings of things, the esoteric way of life, and one of the biggest tools needed for that is learning how to “transfer” one meaning of a situation to another. Engaging in this practice daily in his class was such an immensely powerful and thought provoking experience. I thank Dr. Madsen for reminding me of what is important in life. Any student would be lucky to have him as a teacher. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables ……………………………………………………………………………………..vi List of Figures …………………………………………………………………………………...vii Abstract ………………………………………………………………………………………….vii 1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................1 Demographics of Hispanics in the United States ………………………………………………2 2. HOSPICE CARE ........................................................................................................................3 History of Hospice ...……………………………………………………………………............3 Modern Day Hospice Care ……………………………………………………………………...3 Multicultural Approaches within Hospice Care ………………………………………………..4 Hospice with Hispanic Patients and their Families in the United States ……………………….6 Music Therapy in Hospice Care……………………………………………………………….13 3. MUSIC ……………………………………………………………………………………….15 Music Therapy with Hispanics ……………………………………………………………….15 Hispanic Music………………………………………………………………………………..16 4. METHOD …………………………………………………………………………………….18 Participant Description ……………………………………………………………………….18 Dependent Variable ...………………………………………………………………………...18 Procedure ……………………………………………………………………………………..19 Music Therapy Interventions ....................................................................................................19 5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION………………………………………………………………20 Results ………………………………………………………………………………………..20 Research Questions …………………………………………………………………………..24 Discussion ……………………………………………………………………………………25 APPENDICES ...............................................................................................................................29 A. LETTERS OF APPROVAL .....................................................................................................29 B. INSTRUMENT ENGLISH & SPANISH .................................................................................31 C. INFORMATION SHEET ENGLISH & SPANISH .................................................................37 References ......................................................................................................................................41 Biographical Sketch .......................................................................................................................45 v LIST OF TABLES 1 Participant Demographics .......................................................................................................20 2 Participants’ Perceptions of Importance of Music from Home Country % .............................23 vi LIST OF FIGURES 1 Perceived Benefit of Observed Music Therapy Session %….................................................21 2 Perception of Interpersonal Relationships after Participating in Music Therapy Session % .22 3 Participant Level of Importance Participating in Music Therapy Session..............................22 4 Importance of Music Therapist Acknowledging Cultural Customs ………………………...23 vii ABSTRACT As the need for multicultural awareness continues to grow, it becomes imperative in a music therapist's career to incorporate music interventions that address diverse, culturally based populations. This study investigates music therapy with Hispanic immigrants within the United States. Participants for this study were family members who met the following criteria: first, they had a living relative who had immigrated from a Spanish-speaking country, who was currently under hospice care and receiving music therapy; second, they were at least 18 years of age. This survey included N=50 family members of hospice patients. Results demonstrated that 64% of study participants perceived family participation within the music therapist’s session to be very important; furthermore, 60% of participants perceived music therapy as very beneficial for their loved one's hospice care. Having a music therapist who acknowledged culutural customs of the patient and his/her family members, was perceived by 54% of participants as very important, while 22% perceived it as important. A logistic regression test was performed to determine whether any of the given categories on the survey (e.g. prior knowldge of music therapy before initial sessions; participation in music therapy interventions between music therapist, family member and patient) had an effect on the participant’s perception of music therapy. Significance of the predictor was determined by the significance of the coefficient of the predictor in the final model. Significance was established as p ≤ .05. Participants perceived it as very important for the therapist to utilize music from the patient's home country, if they originated from the Caribbean. It also showed that neither gender nor region of origin affected participants' perceptions of value of music therapy. Family members indicating that their family member had a hospice diagnosis of end-stage neurological disease had increased perception of the importance of being involved in their family member's music therapy sesison. For participants who had previously taken part in the music therapy sessions, there was an increase in the individual's perception of the importance of that participation. Finally, results showed that neither gender nor region of origin had an effect on participants' perceived importance of the use of cultural customs by the music therapist. viii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION As ethnic diversity in the United States continues to increase, it becomes more important to incorporate multicultural approaches into the nation’s practice of music therapy (Chase, 2003). The more information and research available regarding different cultural backgrounds, the more effective a music therapist may be in his or her work (Chase, 2003). While the literature for multicultural approaches to music therapy is continuously growing, it is