Music therapy preloss care though legacy creation

摘要

Positive treatment of patients and families during the patients’ advanced illnesses can enhance the families’nbereavement. There is little focus on how music therapy with dying patients and their families before thenpatients’ deaths can help the families when bereaved. Two studies examining reflections about musicntherapy, expressed by carers of children and adults who received music therapy at the end-of-life,nindicated that session memories and patients’ song compositions brought the bereaved carers comfort. Itnis suggested that music therapists consider preloss care as an aim when working in palliative care. Thisnarticle provides a definition, description and critique of preloss care in music therapy. Preloss care can bendefined as the intentional creation of opportunities with patients with life-threatening conditions and/orntheir families (or close friends) that may enable the mourners’ improved bereavement experiences if thenpatient dies. In palliative care, music therapists provide preloss care through helping patients to createnlegacies. Legacies encompass tangible products and memories which validate a life. A music therapist’snpreloss care work is illustrated. It includes family work and song writing with a child and adults. The valuenof preloss care is considered through the lens of bereavement theory. After a patient dies, their musicntherapy legacies may assist grieving people through being a connection with the deceased. Furthernresearch into preloss care’s effects on the bereaved is warranted, especially when patients make legaciesnfor relatives with whom they have strained relationships.