Music learning and school-aged children’s and adolescents’ wellbeing: A scoping review

Abstract

There is compelling evidence that music can support young people’s wellbeing, particularly through music listening to and making. In this article we report a systematic review of music learning and wellbeing literature to offer a new perspective on learning music as a wellbeing strategy. In this review, we investigated (a) what definitions and theories of wellbeing have been used; (b) what methodologies have been employed, particularly measurement tools; (c) what learning contexts and participant demographics have been examined; and (d) what is known about music learning and the wellbeing of school-aged children and adolescents. This review was conducted using the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR) and a protocol was registered. Four hundred and twenty-three sources were retrieved from nine databases, and 30 sources were analyzed after screening. Findings identified that most sources did not adopt a clear definition or theory of wellbeing. Qualitative methods overwhelmingly inform existing knowledge and studies were predominantly situated in Australia and the United Kingdom. All but one source reported that music learning supported wellbeing. Wellbeing outcomes were summarized into three themes (individual, social, and educational) and characteristics of these music programs and approaches were also identified. The review concludes with clear recommendations to direct future research. These include a need for music education scholars to adopt an interdisciplinary approach informed by existing wellbeing knowledge. The field would benefit from developing a quantitative instrument to measure music learning and wellbeing outcomes for use in large-scale studies, including in schools. Future research must closely interrogate the wellbeing outcomes and characteristics of specific music learning activities, how learning music can be a form of wellbeing literacy, and how wellbeing strategies can be integrated into music education.