Dealing with palliative care patients' incomplete music therapy legacies: reflexive group supervision research

Legacies encompass treasured memories and items such as wills, publications, and songs, which help to validate lives. Legacy creation is encouraged by palliative care staff to help patients deal with loss and find personal meaning; the legacy works may also support the bereaved. Within the literature, however, there is no consideration of how staff deal with patients' incomplete legacies when patients relocate, deteriorate, or die. Our research focuses on this question: What experiences did four music therapists have with palliative care patients' incomplete tangible music therapy legacies? Data included transcripts from the therapists' discussions about patients' incomplete legacies in three reflexive group supervision sessions and further reflections written during transcript verification. Inductive thematic analysis yielded five themes: the nature of incomplete music therapy legacies; reasons for and feelings about these legacies; factors determining what music therapists do with them; considerations about their future "life"; and the ways therapists' shared reflections can support their future legacy work.