Music Therapy Intervention Research Trend Analysis Associated with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): Focusing on Domestic Academic Journals and Theses from 2000 to 2022

Abstract

Objectives This study aims to understand the overall flow of past research by analyzing trends in music therapy intervention research related to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in South Korea and to present data that will serve as a direction and basis for follow-up research. Methods Initially, it was found 176 studies published between January 2000 and December 2022. A total of 19 papers were finally selected after 8 rounds of literature purification process. This was sequentially classified into research information, characteristics of study participants, and music therapy intervention-related information. Results Among the final 19 studies, 8 were quantitative studies and 9 were qualitative studies. The number of papers published every five years was the highest from 2005 to 2009 and from 2015 to 2019, with 6 papers each. As for the number of research participants, 10 studies (52.63%) had less than 10 participants, and 3 papers (15.79%) had more than 50 participants. 119(28.81%) participants were aged between teens and 40s. The most common type of trauma experienced by participants was ‘repetitive trauma’, with 17 people (89.48%). Regarding music therapy intervention, the independent variable was ‘expressive music activity’, which was the most com-mon with 9 studies(47.37%), and the dependent variable was ‘composite’ variable with two or more areas estab-lished, which was the highest with 8 studies(42.11%). The type of intervention was ‘group’ in 10 cases (52.63%), and the number of sessions was 10 to 19 sessions, 8 cases (42.11%). The intervention time was 40 to 50 minutes in 4 cases (21.05%). Lastly, the location of music therapy intervention was often carried out in a ‘music practice room or music therapy room’. Except for four papers, treatment interventions were performed by professional music therapists. Conclusions This study provided a comprehensive perspective on the characteristics of music therapy for pa-tients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).