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Jessica Newsome Hoyle, Cathy H. McKinney, Music Therapy in the Bereavement of Adults with Intellectual Disabilities: A Clinical Report, Music Therapy Perspectives, Volume 33, Issue 1, 2015, Pages 39–44, https://doi.org/10.1093/mtp/miu051
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Abstract
This study explored a series of music therapy sessions to address the issues associated with the bereavement in three adults with intellectual disability (ID). Adapted from the work of Hilliard (2007), the sessions employed a nine-week group music therapy protocol designed to educate individuals about death and how to deal with feelings that arise when a loved one dies. Following the series of music therapy sessions, the participant who had lived longest in the family home exhibited a reduced level of negative behaviors, as measured by the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale for Developmental Disabilities (Bodfish, 1995), which was maintained through a four-week follow-up. No change in negative behaviors was observed for two participants who had moved to the residential facility more than 40 years prior to the study. A music therapy bereavement protocol may be useful in addressing issues related to bereavement in adults with ID.