The Effect of Music Therapy on the Grief Process and Group Cohesion of Grief Support Groups

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the grief process and group cohesion were affected by the incorporation of music therapy interventions into grief support groups. The participants (n=13) were members of grief support groups who were registered in one of three possible groups. Each group met weekly for six weeks. Experimental Group A received music therapy interventions along with the grief counseling programming. Experimental Group B received the grief counseling programming with recorded background music while the Control Group received only the standard support group curriculum without music interventions. A standardized tool, the Hogan Grief Reaction Checklist (HGRC), measured the grief process in pre-test/post-test design through six factors of grief. A post-test Support Group Questionnaire measured group cohesion at the end of the six weeks. Analysis revealed no significant differences of the grief process or group cohesion among the three groups. A linear regression revealed no significance of group cohesion predicting the grief process.