Description
Kabarak University
School of Music and Performing Arts
Mary Mkavita Mnjama
And
Prof Mellitus N Wanyama
ABSTRACT
THE NEED FOR MUSIC THERAPY TO BE INTEGRATED INTO THE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM IN KENYA
Introduction
According to Kathleen (2017), Music Therapy is the use of music to accomplish non-musical goals for example song writing can be used to overcome anxiety and traumatic experiences. Music Therapy is a practice that is gaining popularity in the world. It is mostly practiced in the United States of America. In Kenya, it is being practiced by very few institutions such as Magoso School in Kibera, Matter Hospital and Kenya Community Center for learning. It is proving to be an effective form of treatment however it is not being practiced extensively in Kenya because it has not been integrated in the Health system. The authors of this paper argue that integrating Music Therapy into the Health care System in Kenya will be of great use to Kenyans because Music Therapy can be used in the treatment of a variety of illnesses such as Autism, Schizophrenia, Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and Insomnia. The data for the study leading to this paper was collected from Research reports, Research abstract and audio-visual documentation available on credible web sources. Using descriptive research design, data was qualitatively analysed along the main themes imaging from the research objectives. The objectives of this study are: to find out how the integration of Music Therapy into the Health System in Kenya can benefit patients, to explore how Music Therapy can be an effective and affordable form of treatment for patients and to identify a model to be used in integrating Music Therapy in the Kenyan health system.
