Lived experiences of Music and Imagery sessions during the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative pluralistic inquiry

Abstract

The aim of this thesis was to explore the meaning that participants ascribed to their lived experiences of Music and Imagery (MI) sessions conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants included South African self-employed music teachers who had all contracted the virus, as well as three music therapists, one from South Africa and two from Spain, who were trained in the MI method during the pandemic. The researcher was also the participant in the autoethnography. MI is a receptive music therapy method which is part of the Continuum Model of Guided Imagery and Music (CMGIM) in which the client's (participant's) preferred music is used for therapeutic purposes. Clients listen to their chosen music repeatedly while they draw, and afterwards, they verbally discuss the process, which leads to new insights. The first level on the continuum is to support the client. I wanted to know if and how experiencing MI sessions was helpful in recovering from this global traumatic occurrence. MI has not been explored as a mitigating therapeutic method during the pandemic. This pluralistic qualitative thesis comprises five articles. They include an integrative literature review, an autoethnography, a trioethnography, an interpretative phenomenological analysis and an intrinsic case study. Each article made use of a different research approach, which allowed the adoption of different perspectives and insights into the meanings that were ascribed to the sessions by the participants. The first article focused on clients' experiences of MI as depicted in the literature. In the autoethnography I had an opportunity to reflect on the meaning that I personally ascribed to MI; the data were collected during the training and directly afterwards during supervision. In the trioethnography, I, together with two other therapists, explored the meanings that we ascribed particularly to the importance of choosing of the music in MI sessions. Data for this article were collected during intervision sessions. Five music teachers each participated in individual as well as group MI sessions. Data for the IPA were collected through individual semi-structured interviews, while for the case study focus group interviews were conducted. ix After analysing the data across the five articles, I constructed the following six super-ordinate themes: 1) Music as activator: each piece of music had qualities that contributed to the engagement of the clients; 2) Emotional experiences: both positive and challenging emotions were stirred up by the music for clients; 3) Strengths and growth: through engaging in sessions, clients could realise their own strengths and experience personal growth; 4) Trusting self and others: clients experienced a sense of liberation when they trusted themselves and others; 5) Relatedness: the value of shared experiences was celebrated by clients; and 6) Spiritual experiences: surrendering to the music led to a sense of transcendence and transformation for clients. I found that these themes related to each other and furthermore that all these experiences could lead to improved well-being. This study is unique within the South African context, and findings show that MI as a therapeutic method was not only helpful to cope in difficult circumstances, but also contributed to improving well-being. The pandemic had a global impact, which makes these findings applicable to other challenging contexts and circumstances as well.