Pediatric Medical Music Therapy on YouTube

The use of music therapy interventions within pediatric healthcare is becoming increasingly popular because of the unique outcome music is able to provide. The purpose of this study was to investigate how music therapy within in-patient pediatric healthcare is portrayed on the social media platform YouTube. The search term pediatric medical music therapy was entered in the search box on YouTube. To narrow the search, only the first 150 videos that (1) contained the terms music therapy or music therapist with or without credentials in the title or description, (2) were published during or between 2015 and 2020, (3) were 10 minutes or less in length, and (4) were related to pediatric inpatient medical music therapy were considered for further analysis. This resulted in a total of 41 videos for analysis. To determine the results, a content rubric created by the investigator was used to analyze video-specific and therapy-specific categories. Video-specific categories included identification of music therapist, further contact info provided, patients seen in video, parents or guardians seen in video, and adequate audio and visual quality. The therapy-specific categories included therapist qualification, patient goals, patient issues and needs, music therapy interventions, research referenced, and music therapy accurately explained. Overall the results showed that only 46% (n = 19) of videos accurately explained music therapy. The remaining 22 videos did not explain music therapy at all or misrepresented the field. There are many other factors that were examined which have the opportunity to establish credibility and adequate education on music therapy. To advocate for the profession, it is crucial that videos published on YouTube are accurate and provide sufficient information to avoid misrepresentation.