An agenda for excellence: the role of music therapy for people living with chronic pain

Research on the role of music and music therapy conducted for several decades reflect a dearth of  literature on the health and well-being benefits of music-based and music therapy interventions for people living with chronic pain. To support advances of research on music therapy for chronic pain, the authors met regularly as members of a Special Interest Group on music, music therapy and chronic pain. The authors, from five different countries, representing the perspectives of music therapy, community music, pain medicine, and service user, discussed theoretical and methodological issues to be addressed in future studies. This article summarizes our collective thoughts in relation to priority questions for future research in music therapy and chronic pain, ethical challenges, research methods, practice techniques and future priority areas. The article sets an agenda for high quality research and practice for music therapy in the treatment and care of people living with chronic pain.