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Cover Valutare in musicoterapia
Series «Il mestiere si impara» · 4/5

Evaluating in Music Therapy

From "they are doing better" to something that can be verified · In Italian

"The participants are doing better" is not a result: it is an impression. This volume teaches how to build the sentence that replaces it — with which measures, collected when, by whom — and how to read the measures of the other professionals the music therapist works with every day. It is the volume that turns "music is good for you" into data anyone can verify.

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Why this volume exists

Because every project needs at least one measure that speaks to the setting and at least one measure that sees the music. The first is chosen in volume 5, "Other People's Tools", this volume's inseparable companion; the second is chosen here.

And it is the volume that teaches how to read any measure: without it, a repertoire of tests remains a mute catalogue.

What you find in the PDF (42 pages)

Part I — The logic of evaluation
The foundations of measurement in plain words: construct and indicator, reliability, validity, sensitivity to change
Evaluation designs
Baselines, the before-after comparison with its honest limits, single-case designs, clinical significance, triangulation
Qualitative evaluation
Structured observation and the clinical diary, individualized scales, goal attainment scaling, the report
Part II — The discipline's own tools
The six music therapy tools to know: IMTAP, IMCAP-ND, MATADOC, MiDAS, Bruscia's profiles and the Nordoff-Robbins/AQR scales
With the state of validations and the international IMTAC consortium as a compass — up to the panorama of the tools born in Italy

Who it is for

  • → Music therapists who must document results to commissioners, management and teams
  • → Students working on the evaluation plan of a placement project or thesis
  • → Anyone choosing among the discipline's own tools, knowing what is validated and what is not
  • → Anyone working where "music is good for you" is no longer enough of an argument

Download the PDF — it's free

Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 license. Share it freely, citing the source. The volume is in Italian.

How to cite: Caneva, P. A. (2026). Valutare in musicoterapia. https://canevapaolo.it

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Questions? Mentoring is the right place.

In the same series

1 Observing in Music Therapy 2 Designing Music Therapy Projects 3 The Project Workbook 5 Other People's Tools — this volume's inseparable companion → All free resources

Frequently asked questions

How do you evaluate a music therapy intervention without being a statistician?

You do not need to be one. The evaluation that clinical practice requires rests on simple ideas: a starting point measured more than once, repeated measures over time, an honest comparison. Real research projects need a methodologist on the team — knowing when to call one is itself an evaluation skill.

What is Goal Attainment Scaling and when is it worth using?

GAS is a five-level scale, from −2 to +2, built around that person's objective and centred on the expected outcome. It does not standardise the measure: it standardises the method by which each individual measure is built. It is often the only instrument that captures the changes that are «small outside, enormous inside». The scale must be written before you start, or it is worthless.

Which assessment tools does music therapy have of its own?

The volume presents the main ones built inside the discipline — IMTAP, IMCAP-ND, MATADOC, MiDAS, Bruscia's profiles and the Nordoff-Robbins/AQR scales — six in all — stating for each what it measures, when it fits, its limits, and whether an Italian version exists. A chapter covers the Italian landscape, which includes the MTPS (Biasutti, 2019): it does not measure the person but your own practice, in fifteen self-assessment questions.

How do you write the final report of a project?

By stating unexpected outcomes and the limits of your evaluation before someone else finds them. The report of a missed objective is written with the same care as a successful one, and with better analysis: that is where a commissioner decides whether you are a professional or a salesperson.

Are these instruments validated in Italian?

Few of them, and the volume says so openly: almost no international music therapy instrument has a published Italian validation study. For someone looking for a thesis topic, that void is not a shortcoming — it is an invitation.