Date Available

12-7-2018

Year of Publication

2019

Degree Name

Master of Music (MM)

Document Type

Master's Thesis

College

Fine Arts

Department/School/Program

Music

First Advisor

Dr. Olivia Yinger

Abstract

Music therapy has been an established health profession for over 60 years serving a diverse population in different settings. Researchers studied the effects of burnout, career longevity, job satisfaction, and workforce analysis of clinical music therapy; however, no studies exist on the prevalence of unemployment and underemployment in clinical music therapy. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of unemployment and underemployment in clinical music therapy.

Participants who completed an anonymous online survey (n = 1,240) were board-certified music therapists who provided information on their current employment status. Results showed that the prevalence of unemployment among the participants was 5.78%, and prevalence of underemployment was 15.6%. Music therapists with more than 15 years of experience were more likely to work full-time than music therapists with 15 or fewer years of experience. Music therapists over 40 were no more likely to work full-time than music therapists who were 39 or younger. Implications for music therapy practice are discussed.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2019.017

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