Transformative engagement with community music-making for older adults: a scoping review protocol

This scoping review has 3 objectives: to identify the literature on older adults' engagement with community music-making in which an experience of transformative change is noted, to explore the different ways transformation is described, and to identify the factors that enable this experience.

Music has been shown to stimulate transformation (positive change) in individuals. Documented experiences of transformation fall into 3 broad areas: self-perception, quality of life, and personal growth. Yet the specific elements of musical experience that enable such effects remain little understood. Identifying the literature on this topic will enable deeper understanding and identify gaps in knowledge.

The review will include peer-reviewed publications, systematic and scoping reviews, and gray literature, including theses and reports. Studies will focus on older community-dwelling adults (60 years or over) engaged in group music-making in community settings. The studies must include enquiry into transformative effects. Music used therapeutically in health settings, individual music-making, and listening (rather than active music-making) will be excluded. Any empirical methodology will be accepted.

The review will follow the JBI methodology for scoping reviews. Databases to be searched will include MEDLINE (Ovid), CINAHL (EBSCOhost), PsycINFO (Ovid), Scopus, Embase (Ovid), Informit, Cochrane Library, Campbell Collaboration, JBI Evidence-based Practice Database, Web of Science, JSTOR, Academic Search Ultimate (EBSCOhost), ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global, and Google Scholar. Studies must be published in English, from 2000 until the present. Retrieved studies will be independently screened by at least 2 reviewers. Data will be extracted using a data extraction tool developed by the research team. The findings will be presented in tabular format, supported by a narrative summary.

Open Science Framework https://osf.io/ftuhx.