Therapy Technique Tuesday: Data Collection While Running Sessions

When I was in my undergraduate training, learning how to be a music therapist for the first time, we did all sorts of data collection during our clinical practica. We did time sampling and frequency counts and all sorts of mathematical processes to interpret the data that we took. As a graduate student, I had to delve deeper into data analysis. Data drove everything in those environments, and there is a role in my current job, but it is not as difficult as it was when I was in school.

Here are some setting details:

• I am an educational enrichment therapist. This means that I see every student in the school for an hour a week. I do not do eligibility assessments, formal assessments, or carry any IEP goals. All students have music therapy whether they want it or not.
• All of the goals and objectives that I carry are internal rather than formal.
• Most of the music therapy sessions are groups. Individuals are rare these days.

Okay. Now that you know where I am coming from, let me explain how important it is to figure out how to do data collection while you are running sessions...

It is important to find your style. This was not something that was well explained during my education, but I can see some of the roots of my particular system in how we were learning.

When we had group sessions during our clinical hours, we selected one or two clients to assess, evaluate, plan, and collect data for during the sessions. We did not focus on all the clients in the group. That is not an option when you are working with groups. All clients have to have some sort of data collection because someone is paying for the treatment for every single person in that group. So, how do you keep data for every client in a group at the same time?

Data collection starts in the assessment/treatment plan phase before a client enters the room for a group.

In my setting, I see 90 clients for an hour a week. About 30 of those clients come once per week and the other 60 come twice a week. I end up having to write 150 notes per week and all of those "point of contact" notes includes data collection. In order to be able to keep data on all clients, I have made conscious decisions about what I am tracking with my clients.

All of my goals/objectives can be answered with either Yes or No. This comes from how I think about my treatment goals. For example, Client A might be struggling with sitting in a chair during music therapy. The goal question is "did A sit in the chair for the entire session?" Yes or No. (Most of the time, for the client I am thinking of, the answer is No, so then I approximate how much time the client was in the chair during the session.)

**Now, you might be wondering what sitting in a chair has to do with music therapy. Believe me, this client is learning how to be in a school setting and this goal is one that is part of every environment in the school right now. Once client A starts to sit in a chair, therapy can begin.**

When my goals became more aligned with what I was able to track during group sessions, I became more informed in what was working with each client. It seems counterintuitive to me, but have a series of Yes/No questions helps me track client interest, preference, and engagement during the music therapy sessions. My documentation is stronger because I have these questions. I've boiled mine down to a list.

• Did the client engage in all aspects of the session? If not, what appeared to be the most productive/least productive TME(s)?
• Did the client interact with others?
• Was the interaction positive? If not, were there specific peers or people that were involved?
• Was there anything else that needs to be noted?

It always interests me that my group documentation is something that works well in my clinical space but that it is significantly different from what I was told that I would have to do as a clinician. I know that others feel that way as well (we've talked about it), and it is nice to know that I know how to do some time sampling, but I don't have to do it while I am running sessions.

I do more robust data collection when I have individuals in sessions because it is easier to track things the way I was taught when there is only one person in treatment rather than lots of clients.

There you go.

If you are currently a student, then learn how to collect data as requested by your educators. There are reasons why you need to learn how to do these things, but know that your data collection practices will adapt to match the types of sessions that you will be doing in your real life.