Wendy L MageeTemple University | TU · Boyer College of Music and Dance
Wendy L Magee
PhD
About
86
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1,872
Citations
Citations since 2017
Introduction
Additional affiliations
July 2011 - present
Publications
Publications (86)
Background:
Acquired brain injury (ABI) can result in impairments in motor function, language, cognition, sensory processing and emotional disturbances. This may severely reduce a survivor's quality of life. Music therapy has been used in rehabilitation to stimulate brain functions involved in movement, cognition, speech, emotions and sensory perc...
Background: Prolonged Disorders of Consciousness (PDOC) describes a population where a consciousness disorder has persisted for at least four weeks post injury but is still under investigation. Complex motor, sensory , communication, and cognitive impairments cause challenges with diagnosis, assessment, and intervention planning. Developing sensiti...
Establishing valid and reliable measures for use with patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC) following profound brain injury is challenging due to a number of factors including the complex presentation of such patients and assessor variability. The auditory modality has been demonstrated to have greater sensitivity for detecting awareness i...
Patients with prolonged disorders of consciousness (PDOC) stemming from acquired brain injury present one of the most challenging clinical populations in neurological rehabilitation. Because of the complex clinical presentation of PDOC patients, treatment teams are confronted with many medicolegal, ethical, philosophical, moral, and religious issue...
Music is increasingly used in a wide array of settings, from clinical recovery to sports or well-being interventions. Motivation related to music is often considered as a possible working mechanism for music to facilitate these processes, however this has not previously been systematically evaluated. The current systematic review considered studies...
Background and Objectives
Comprehensive guidelines for diagnosis, prognosis, and treatments of disorders of consciousness (DoCs) in pediatric patients have not yet been released. We aim to summarize available evidence for DoCs with >14 days duration, to support the future development of guidelines for children aged 6 months to 18 years.
Methods
Th...
Objective:
To examine (1) the concurrent validity of the Music Therapy Assessment Tool for Awareness in Disorders of Consciousness (MATADOC) with the criterion standard Coma Recovery Scale Revised (CRS-R) for outcomes of awareness in patients with prolonged disorders of consciousness (PDoC); (2) the relationship between MATADOC items and CRS-R fun...
Background
Prolonged Disorders of Consciousness (PDOC) resulting from severe acquired brain injury can lead to complex disabilities that make diagnosis challenging. The role of machine learning (ML) in diagnosing PDOC states and identifying intervention strategies is relatively under-explored, having focused on predicting mortality and poor outcome...
Aligned with best practice guidelines for patients presenting with a disorder of consciousness (DoC), music therapy interventions with this population aim to increase arousal and awareness to support emergence to consciousness. There is a significant evidence base supporting music therapy for adults with a DoC; however, there are currently no publi...
Music is increasingly used in a wide array of settings, from clinical recovery to sports or well-being interventions. Motivation related to music is often considered as a possible working mechanism for music to facilitate these processes, however this has not previously been systematically evaluated. In the current systematic review, studies were c...
Epileptic seizures/post-traumatic epilepsy (ES/PTE) are frequent in persons with brain injuries, particularly for patients with more severe injuries including ones that result in disorders of consciousness (DoC). Surprisingly, there are currently no best practice guidelines for assessment or management of ES in persons with DoC. This study aimed to...
To date, no guideline exists for the management of epilepsy in patients with prolonged Disorders of Consciousness (DoC). This review aimed to assess the occurrence of epilepsy and epileptic abnormalities (EA) in these patients, to determine their impact on recovery; and to review the effect of antiepileptic drugs (AED) and therapeutic interventions...
The fields of music, health, and technology have seen significant interactions in recent years in developing music technology for health care and well-being. In an effort to strengthen the collaboration between the involved disciplines, the workshop ‘Music, Computing, and Health’ was held to discuss best practices and state-of-the-art at the inters...
The fields of music, health, and technology have seen significant interactions in recent years in developing music technology for health care and well-being. In an effort to strengthen the collaboration between the involved disciplines, the workshop “Music, Computing, and Health” was held to discuss best practices and state-of-the-art at the inters...
Introduction
A growing number of children and young people are surviving severe acquired brain injuries due to advances in healthcare. However, many fail to emerge from coma and continue to live with disorders of consciousness (DOC). Diagnostic, clinical and ethical challenges are prominent in this group. Misdiagnosis can have severe consequences f...
Prolonged disorders of consciousness (PDOC) following acquired brain injury affect a person’s awareness of self and the environment. Motor, communication, sensory, and cognitive deficits challenge assessment. Rigorously tested behavioral assessments, sensitive to detecting awareness, are critical for discerning a prognosis for recovery and access t...
Purpose: Telehealth provides psychotherapeutic interventions and psychoeducation for remote populations with limited access to in-person behavioural health and/or rehabilitation treatment. The United States Department of Défense and the Veterans Health Administration use telehealth to deliver primary care, medication management, and services includ...
Introduction: Therapeutic Instrumental Music Performance (TIMP) is well suited for upper limb rehabilitation following stroke. Published protocols serve to inform clinicians on intervention design and delivery. However, few case studies are available that address patient suitability, protocol modifications to support treatment adherence and suitabi...
Using music with people with prolonged disorders of consciousness (PDOC) has progressed considerably in recent years. Using both imaging and behavioural measures has revealed music’s potential for enhancing arousal and awareness, boosting cognition and improving behavioural outcomes when compared to non-music conditions. Furthermore, music may have...
Objective:
To assess the feasibility of a randomized controlled trial to evaluate music therapy as a home-based intervention for arm hemiparesis in stroke.
Design:
A pilot feasibility randomized controlled trial, with cross-over design. Randomization by statistician using computer-generated, random numbers concealed in opaque envelopes.
Setting...
Background:
Acquired brain injury (ABI) can result in impairments in motor function, language, cognition, and sensory processing, and in emotional disturbances, which can severely reduce a survivor's quality of life. Music interventions have been used in rehabilitation to stimulate brain functions involved in movement, cognition, speech, emotions,...
Despite the body of research on disorders of consciousness (DOC) that has emerged since the “persistent vegetative state” was first named (Jennet and Plum, 1972), the provision of optimal care for this complex population continues to challenge health, medical and science professionals. This is in notwithstanding continual developments in definition...
Background: Members of this round table have recently formed the International Music Therapy Assessment Consortium. The purpose of this collaboration is to strengthen the field of music therapy by ensuring development and standardization of research-based assessment tools, increase awareness of use of assessment within and outside of the field, and...
Until now, no treatment has shown its efficacy in patients with severe brain injury, with the exception of one pharmacological agent (i.e., Amantadine; Giacino et al., 2012). Recovery of consciousness is therefore one of the biggest challenge facing clinicians (Whyte, 2014). For years, sensory stimulation programs have been the most frequently appl...
Children and youth with disorders of consciousness (DOC) are defined as those under 18 years of age who show wakefulness, but with absent or reduced awareness. This condition is considered to be prolonged when this state lasts for longer than four weeks. Hence, the term prolonged disorders of consciousness (PDOC) (Royal College of Physicians, 2013)...
Background: Prolonged Disorders of Consciousness (PDOC) describes a population where a consciousness disorder has persisted for at least
four weeks post injury but is still under investigation. Complex motor, sensory, communication, and cognitive impairments
cause challenges with diagnosis, assessment, and intervention planning. Developing sensitiv...
This study was a two-armed parallel group design aimed at testing real world effectiveness of a music therapy (MT) intervention for children with severe neurological disorders. The control group received only the standard neurorestoration program and the experimental group received an additional MT " Auditory Attention plus Communication protocol "...
Background: Impairment of upper limb function following stroke is more common than lower limb impairment and is also more resistant to treatment. Several lab-based studies with stroke patients have produced statistically significant gains in upper limb function when using musical instrument playing and techniques where rhythm acts as an external ti...
Measuring responsiveness to gain accurate diagnosis in populations with disorders of consciousness (DOC) is of central concern because these patients have such complex clinical presentations. Due to the uncertainty of accuracy for both behavioral and neurophysiological measures in DOC, combined assessment approaches are recommended. A number of sta...
Collaborations between neuroscience and music therapy promise many mutual benefits given the different knowledge bases, experiences and specialist skills possessed by each discipline. Primarily, music therapists deliver music-based interventions on a daily basis with numerous populations; neuroscientists measure clinical changes in ways that provid...
This article provides a summary of the oral papers presented during a two day international conference, which took place on 7th & 8th June 2013, at the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability (RHN) in London. The summary texts detail innovative research projects and clinical developments across music therapy, music neuroscience and music psychology add...
This paper considers the ways in which the use of music technology in therapeutic settings helps people with a range of differing abilities to establish a sense of identity as they adjust to changing physical abilities. A total of 12 interviews with six music therapists, each experienced users of electronic equipment using musical instrument digita...
Assessment of awareness for those with disorders of consciousness (DOC) is a challenging undertaking, due to the complex presentation of the population, where misdiagnosis rates remain high. Music therapy may be effective in the assessment and rehabilitation with this population due to effects of musical stimuli on arousal, attention and emotion, i...
Music therapy may be effective in promoting arousal and awareness for
those with disorders of consciousness. This feature may be used to
enhance our ability to diagnose accurately whether individuals are in
vegetative or minimally conscious states. Accurate diagnosis is crucial for
decisions regarding prognosis and resource allocation. However, it...
In the behavioural assessment of disorders of consciousness (DOC), best practice is for several different assessment tools to be used to encourage a variety of different responses indicative of awareness. Anecdotal evidence suggests a range of musical stimuli may be particularly effective in eliciting responses to guide the assessment process, alth...
This paper considers the ways in which the use of music technology in therapeutic settings helps people with a range of differing abilities to establish a sense of identity as they adjust to changing physical abilities. A total of 12 interviews with six music therapists, each experienced users of electronic equipment using musical instrument digita...
This paper reports on the development of a proof-of-concept brain-computer music interfacing system (BCMI), which we built to be tested with a patient with Locked-in Syndrome at the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability, in London. The system uses the Steady State Visual Evoked Potential (SSVEP) method, whereby targets are presented to a user on a co...
Despite the call for information about using music technologies in music therapy over 20 years ago, few resources have been realized to guide practitioners in the craft of using these tools in practice. A small number of published case studies describe the use of music technology in practice with adults with neurological needs and adolescents with...
Despite the call for information about using music technologies in music therapy over 20 years ago, few resources have been realized to guide practitioners in the craft of using these tools in practice. A small number of published case studies describe the use of music technology in practice with adults with neurological needs and adolescents with...
The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the application of music therapy intervention in neurobehavioral treatment programs with pediatric, adolescent and adult populations through the presentation of six case reports, with special reference to post-traumatic amnesia. Severe behavioral disorders stemming from brain injury are challenging for bot...
People with neuro-behavioural disorders following brain damage present carers with many challenges, particularly in cases where receptive language may be compromised. Music therapy can reduce behaviours such as anxiety and agitation, and promote positive behaviours in this population. However, empirical and descriptive investigations are lacking. T...
This article presents the findings of a preliminary interdisciplinary research project instigated by a group of three music therapists, a music psychologist and a psychiatrist. The group shared a professional and academic interest in music therapy's seeming ability to help patients experiencing severe affect dysregulation as a result of psychotic s...
The purpose of this paper is to provide a practical overview for nurses of the evidence for and uses of music therapy for people following acquired brain injury, and to highlight its relevance to the nurse's role in providing care for this patient population. As a specialist clinical intervention, music therapy is able to effect changes in physical...
The purpose of this paper is to provide a practical overview for nurses of the evidence for and uses of music therapy for people following acquired brain injury, and to highlight its relevance to the nurse's role in providing care for this patient population. As a specialist clinical intervention, music therapy is able to effect changes in physical...
In line with wider health and educational services, there is a growing demand for music therapists to apply electronic music technologies in clinical practice. Despite a handful of accounts indicating the benefits these tools offer, an objective assessment of their role in music therapy and guidelines for their application in therapy are lacking. A...
In recent years there has been growing interest in the use of a range of electronic technologies in music therapy. However, there remain no empirical investigations into the clinical applications of these tools, nor guidelines for their use. This article draws from a recent research study which explored how music therapists are using technology in...
Acquired and complex disabilities stemming from severe brain damage and neurological illness usually affect communication, cognitive, physical or sensory abilities in any combination. Improved understanding of the care needs of people with complex disabilities has addressed many functional aspects of care. However, relatives and carers can be left...
In line with wider health and educational services, there is a growing demand for music therapists to apply electronic music technologies in clinical practice. Despite a handful of accounts indicating the benefits these tools offer, an objective assessment of their role in music therapy and guidelines for their application in therapy are lacking. A...
Many existing assessment tools for patients in low awareness states involve language functioning capabilities. Information regarding the construction and validity of a new assessment tool that relies on music, called the Music Therapy Assessment Tool for Low Awareness States (i.e. MATLAS), is presented in this paper.
A total of nine assessments, in...
Examining the evidence from contrasting epistemological sources a case is made for the use of music as an assessment medium with patients in low awareness states. Profound brain damage can result in long-term states of altered consciousness such as vegetative and minimally conscious states. Differential diagnosis with this population is immensely c...
Although there is growing evidence that music therapy has a significant role to play in rehabilitation of patients with complex neuro-disabilities, its provision in rehabilitation units varies widely internationally. Understanding the role it plays in therapeutic outcomes appears to be one of the barriers in developing music therapy service provisi...
People in low awareness states following profound brain injury typically demonstrate subtle changes in functional behaviors which challenge the sensitivity of measurement tools. Failure to identify and measure changes in functioning can lead to misdiagnosis and withdrawal of treatment with this population. Thus, the development of tools which are s...
Music therapy can effect behavioural, emotional, and functional changes in adults with acquired chronic illness, even in the face of degenerative conditions. However questions remain about the methods which are most suited to meeting the complex physical and emotional needs of individuals living with chronic illness. Rehabilitative models tend to e...
This paper brings together perspectives of the ICMC 2007 ArtAbilitation Panel on non-formal rehabilitation via immersive interactive music environments. Issues covered are sound therapy and music therapy, musical topologies, brainwave control and research methodology.
Increasingly, electronic assistive technologies are enabling access to work and leisure pursuits for people with severe and complex disabilities. Despite this, there is limited published information about technology improving access to music composition and performance for people with severe disabilities, particularly in therapeutic applications of...
This paper presents a case report of collaborative work between speech and language therapy (SLT) and music therapy (MT) in the case of an individual presenting with complex communication difficulties and lability caused by pseudo-Parkinsonian vascular disease.
MT intervention was used to investigate whether participation could be enabled in a clie...
Purpose. This paper presents a case report of collaborative work between speech and language therapy (SLT) and music therapy (MT) in the case of an individual presenting with complex communication difficulties and lability caused by pseudo-Parkinsonian vascular disease. Design. MT intervention was used to investigate whether participation could be...
This paper outlines the rationale for and role of music therapy as a clinical intervention and diagnostic tool in multidisciplinary (MDT) rehabilitation programmes for patients in low awareness states. A review of the literature indicates that music is a useful clinical tool in stimulating a range of behavioural, physiological and expressive respon...
Music therapy in the treatment of chronic neurological illness typically focuses on the use of music to address the emotional and psychosocial impact of loss and change stemming from pathology. A range of clinical techniques is described in anecdotal accounts spanning instrumental improvisation, song composition and singing. However, there is scant...
Acquired and chronic neurological illness causes fundamental changes to all aspects of an individual's identity, starting
with the physical self and extending through one's psychosocial existence. The descriptive literature on music therapy with
acquired neuro-disabling conditions often describes the holistic effect of intervention on all areas suc...
Music therapy as a clinical intervention has been demonstrated to improve mood states with a variety of populations, however,
this has not yet been shown empirically with participants with neurological impairments. This report presents the results
of a pilot study examining the effect of music therapy on moods states in patients with acquired and c...
The purpose of this paper is to examine how clinical improvisation techniques influence the structure of a Huntington's Disease (HD) patient's expressive responses. The paper reviews the literature pertaining to music therapy in the treatment of HD, highlighting that there has been no anecdotal or empirical link made between the specific use of cli...
Severe brain injury can leave an individual with profound and complex disabilities. These can include physical, communication,
and sensory impairments, emotional and behavioral changes, and often a combination of cognitive deficits, all of which contribute
to isolation and loneliness. When working with people who have sustained these types of disab...
The purpose of this paper is to describe the different stages of Huntington's Disease (HD) and to present methods of music therapy assessment and treatment specifically related to the varying levels of abilities seen in the early to advanced stages of this illness. Whilst these methods are described here in relation to HD, they are also useful when...
Questions
Question (1)
Literature searching and informal surveying of international pediatric units where children with acquired profound brain damage are admitted suggests that a) there are no standardized measures for assessing awareness / consciousness in children with DOC, and b) where standardized measures are used, they are validated for adults, not for children, and c) clinical practice in specialist units adopts the 'best fit' for each individual child, i.e. any number of measures that seem most suited to the observed level of responsiveness regardless of not being validated for pediatrics.
I would value any knowledge or experience that ResearchGate colleagues may have to share.
