Protocol for a Three-Arm Controlled Trial of Participatory Music Education in University Students

Participatory music education may offer a practical group-based approach to supporting university student wellbeing, but protocols that separate active music participation from general music exposure remain limited. This article describes a standardized three-arm controlled trial for evaluating the emotional and social outcomes of participatory music education in university students aged 18-26 years. The age range is used to keep the sample developmentally comparable and reduce heterogeneity related to mature, returning, or part-time students. Participants are allocated to a 6-week participatory music education group, an active-control music appreciation group, or a waitlist-control group. The participatory program includes rhythm practice, active music-making, same-room subgroup improvisation, guided co-creation, and structured reflection. The active-control condition matches session duration, facilitator contact, the group setting, and music exposure but excludes instrument handling, synchronized performance, improvisation, composition, and co-creation. Both active arms receive one 90-min session per week for 6 weeks. Outcomes are measured at baseline, within 48 h after the final session, and at a 4-week follow-up using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, the 10-item Perceived Stress Scale, and the Social Connectedness Scale-Revised. The protocol specifies facilitator scripts, outside-session music activity logs, fidelity monitoring, psychological distress response procedures, and predefined mixed-effects analyses with sensitivity analyses for contamination, missing data, baseline stressor status, and session-level clustering. Representative data from 90 participants showed greater baseline-to-post-intervention changes in the participatory music education group for positive affect, perceived stress, and social connectedness, with similar patterns observed at follow-up. Significant adjusted pairwise contrasts showed absolute Hedges' g values ranging from 1.07 to 2.02. The protocol provides a reproducible framework for testing whether active music participation provides additional emotional and social benefits beyond passive music exposure in university settings.