Randomized Controlled Trials in Music Therapy: Guidelines for Design and Implementation

Evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) plays a powerful role in today's healthcare industry. At the same time, it is important that multiple types of evidence contribute to music therapy's knowledge base and that the dialogue of clinical effectiveness in music therapy is not dominated by the biomedical hierarchical model of evidence-based practice. Whether or not one agrees with the hierarchical model of evidence in the current healthcare climate, RCTs can contribute important knowledge to our field. Therefore, it is important that music therapists are prepared to design trials that meet current methodological standards and, equally important, are able to respond appropriately to those design aspects that may not be feasible in music therapy research.

To provide practical guidelines to music therapy researchers for the design and implementation of RCTs as well as to enable music therapists to be well-informed consumers of RCT evidence.

This article reviews key design aspects of RCTs and discusses how to best implement these standards in music therapy trials. A systematic presentation of basic randomization methods, allocation concealment strategies, issues related to blinding in music therapy trials and strategies for implementation, the use of treatment manuals, types of control groups, outcome selection, and sample size computation is provided.

Despite the challenges of meeting all key design demands typical of an RCT, it is possible to design rigorous music therapy RCTs that accurately estimate music therapy treatment benefits.