Relationship between music therapy students' contact with and attitude toward disabled persons

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which the amount and type of contact with disabled persons affects student attitudes toward these individuals. University music therapy students (N = 67) were divided into four groups: Group 1 acted as a no-contact control. Group 2 viewed videotapes of disabled persons and received information about clients viewed. Group 3 observed music therapy sessions and participated in post-session feedback, and Group 4 planned, conducted, and evaluated actual music therapy clinic sessions. After pretesting with Nelson's Musical Interaction Scale, students participated in assigned therapy training sessions 3 hours per week for 12 weeks, followed by posttesting with the same measurement scale. Multivariate analysis of covariance using pretest scores as covariates revealed no significant group differences on the Musical Interaction Scale subscales due to degree and type of client contact or to students' academic class. The article discusses the impact of these results on clinical training.