Functionally Oriented Music Therapy (FMT) In The Treatment Of Long Term Pain

Project idea: This project aims to explore and evaluate a hitherto unexplored treatment method for people living with long-term musculoskeletal pain. The project's starting point is that it is urgent to develop evidence-based methods that can promote health and well-being, alleviate suffering and lead to an improved quality of life in the target group. The method "Functionally oriented music therapy" (FMT), to be studied in the present project, can be such a method. In FMT, music and movement are combined for health-promoting purposes, which can be assumed to lead to experiences of well- being and recovery. The method is already used in primary care in Region Sörmland, but the method is not evidence-based in the treatment of long-term musculoskeletal pain, which is why scientific evaluation is needed. The project is urgent both from a societal and patient perspective, among other things because healthcare resources need to be used more efficiently than today. To evaluate the method, both qualitative and quantitative research methodology will be used. If the results of the project are positive, i.e., if we can find evidence that various aspects of health are specifically affected/improved, then the results can contribute to evidence based FMT support for health promotion purposes for people with long-term musculoskeletal pain. If, on the other hand, the results show that FMT has no or only little effect, that in itself is an important contribution to new knowledge about treatment and recovery in people with long-term musculoskeletal pain. Today, FMT is used in, among other things, habilitation, rehabilitation and psychiatric care. However, research is needed that deals with the method's health-promoting efforts even in the case of long-term musculoskeletal pain problems.