Research
In Spring 2007, UCLArts and
Healing conducted a pilot study of a social and emotional skill building
program delivered in a framework of drumming, that it co-developed with a licensed clinical social worker and a
professional drumming facilitator. The
research was conducted in collaboration with the UCLA Pediatric Pain Program, the
Los Angeles Unified School District,
and REMO, Inc.
The study compared two fifth
grade classrooms that received the drumming intervention with two that received
standard education only. The 101 study participants
were 97% socioeconomically disadvantaged and 91% Latino. Teachers completed a comprehensive,
standardized assessment instrument for each student (113-item Teacher's Report
Form) which showed that the intervention group improved significantly compared to the control group in total behavior problems, internalizing behavior problems (a composite of withdrawn/depression, anxious/depressed, and somatic complaints), withdrawn/depression, attention problems, anxiety problems, attention
deficit/hyperactivity problems, oppositional defiance, posttraumatic
stress problems, and sluggish cognitive tempo.
The findings of this
research have been presented at the American
Public Health Association annual meeting on October 28, 2008; the Los Angeles Unified School District Best Practices Fair on February 9, 2009; the National School Boards Association annual conference on April 4, 2009; the North American Research Conference on Complementary and Integrative Medicine on May 13, 2009; the American Music Therapy Association annual conference on November 13, 2009; the Western Region Music Therapy Assocation annual conference on April 10, 2010; and the Society for Arts in Healthcare annual conference on April 29, 2010.
The article on this research, entitled "The Impact of Group Drumming on Social-Emotional Behavior in Low-Income Children" by Ping Ho, MA, MPH, Jennie C.I. Tsao, PhD, Lian Bloch, MA, and Lonnie Zeltzer, MD, has been published in the journal, Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine (eCAM). eCAM is an international, peer-reviewed journal that seeks to understand the sources and to encourage rigorous research in this new, yet ancient world of complementary and alternative medicine.
Click on the citation below to view the article:
The Impact of Group Drumming on Social-emotional Behavior in Low-income Children
Ping Ho; Jennie C. I. Tsao; Lian Bloch; Lonnie K. Zeltzer
Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2010; doi: 10.1093/ecam/neq072