Using the Evidence Based Medicine Framework to Support Music Therapy Posts in Healthcare Settings

The Evidence Based Medicine (EBM)1 framework has been incorporated into the field of healthcare practice over the past decade. Whatever our stance as to its benefits and disadvantages, more and more music therapists in health departments and related clinical posts will be asked to account for their work using this approach to the documentation of clinical effectiveness. It is important that music therapists working within clinical service guidelines understand the framework of EBM and are aware of ways in which they can include its precepts in their justifications for practice and posts. The levels of evidence in an EBM approach are presented and discussed and the issues particular to the application of music therapy research findings are explored. Given the author's experience in paediatric medical settings, some of the examples in this paper will refer to the children's hospital context in particular.