Promising but Under-Tested: A Critical Narrative Review of Music Interventions for the Well-Being and Social Participation of Children with Visual Impairment
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54097/fym6mv83Keywords:
visual impairment, music therapy, psychological well-being, social participation, children.Abstract
Children and adolescents with visual impairment (VI) generally have lower levels of social participation, weaker peer relationships, and higher risks of anxiety and depression and poor self-esteem compared to their sighted peers. As hearing is spared and, in some cases, enhanced early on, music has long been used to help these children live happily and be included in society. This paper provides a narrative analysis of peer-reviewed research on music-based interventions for children aged 0-18 with visual impairments in clinical music therapy, music education and structured listening. It is widely agreed that music has good developmental effects for this group of people, and activities in music can promote close outcomes such as attention, participation, emotions and group cohesion. However, this optimism is based on an unreliable method: only thirteen such dedicated studies have been identified, most of which are single-case designs, few use validated outcome measures, and none are randomised trials with children. The three live discussions in the review point out that what is measured does not reflect reality, and they put forward necessary conditions for future research.
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