A scoping review and categorization of music and health psychometric inventories

Healthcare is often dependent on evidence derived from quantitative measurement. Music-based psychometric inventories are thus necessary to quantify health-related constructs. Despite an increase in the number of inventories, there is no systematic overview of the existing inventories, which may hinder dialogue across music disciplines (e.g., music psychology, music therapy). Therefore, the purpose of this scoping review was to identify and categorize psychometric inventories measuring music and health. This pre-registered review followed best practice and was reported following PRISMA guidelines. We extracted data and used a two-phase process to categorize inventories based on our operational definitions. After screening 904 titles and abstracts, we identified 56 psychometric inventories that met our inclusion criteria. Based on full-text reviews, we categorized the inventories into seven groups: Functions of music (16 inventories); Clinical assessment (9 inventories); Music-based intervention (8 inventories); Music engagement (7 inventories); Musicians’ health (7 inventories); Music processing (4 inventories); and Perception of self and others (5 inventories). The inventories captured a wide range of highly specified and diverse approaches to music and health. This overview and categorization may encourage researchers to use the inventories, apply them to a broader range of clinical contexts, and to inform the development of new inventories.