Palliative Music Therapy: Disciplinary Identity and Challenges for Clinical Integration.

Abstract

Music therapy in palliative care (PC) has accumulated a growing evidence base over recent decades, yet its integration into interdisciplinary teams remains inconsistent. This article argues that the gap between evidence and practice reflects, at least in part, a deeper conceptual problem: while foundational contributions to the field have proposed definitions, frameworks, and scope-of-practice models for music therapy in PC, these efforts have not yet translated into broad institutional consolidation of its disciplinary identity. We examine how categorical labels such as "complementary," "adjuvant," and "nonpharmacological" therapy may, in certain contexts, contribute to ambiguity regarding music therapy's scope of practice and referral patterns, and how the conflation of music therapy with music-based interventions obscures what the profession actually does and produces. We further analyze the methodological challenges inherent to researching a relational, individualized practice using standard randomized controlled trial designs. Against this background, we propose the term palliative music therapy as a first step toward building a specific disciplinary identity, one with its own language, competencies, and standards, comparable to those already developed by palliative psychology and palliative nursing. This requires specialized training, active participation in the spaces where PC quality is defined, and research that faithfully captures the clinical and relational complexity of the discipline.