Research Sample: Practitioner’s perspectives on the use of music to provide comfort.
The purpose of this single qualitative case study was to explore whether and how practitioners in the faith-based organization in the Southeastern United States, who use music as therapy, perceive the influence of music on the comfort of recipients. The theoretical foundations for the study were Fry’s Spiritual Leadership Theory and Kolcaba’s Comfort Theory.

The value of this study was to add information to the knowledge base on the subject matter. Tsiris (2017) noted that despite various theoretical explorations regarding spirituality and music therapy, there has been very little empirical studies conducted in this area to give the practitioner’s perspectives. There are recommendations from prior research that calls for studies showing how the practitioners in different settings, such as faith-based organizations who use music as therapy, perceive the influence of music on the comfort of recipients (Gallagher, Lagman, Bates, & Edsall, 2017; Sravanti, 2017).

The literature review showed the evolution of the problem and calls to help address the gap in the studies dating back to Swift and Swift (1994), Eells (2013) and (Jones, 2017). The theoretical approach was to help answer the research questions, which sought to understand whether, and how practitioners in a faith-based organization, who use music as therapy, perceive the influence of music on the comfort of recipients. The use of Fry’s Spiritual Leadership Theory and Kolcaba’s Comfort Theory in this study provided an appropriate framework to conceptualize this issue. Fry’s Spiritual Leadership Theory places emphasis on commitment to the practitioner’s abilities to obtain performance satisfaction. Algera and Lips-Wiersma, (2012) articulated that authentic leadership in faith is evident in the faith component of The Spiritual Leadership Theory.

The result of the participant experiences revealed that there is a lot of scopes to advance best practices for future applications. Sixty-seven percent of the participants rated music as therapy as very important to extremely important and this was based on their direct experiences from the data. Another practical use of music as therapy applications is in a situation when there is a community tragedy. The practitioners have revealed that there is a need for more practitioners to address the growth and needs that is happening in the industry. The practical implications found in the literature have are critical to the future of music as therapy.

Based on the results that emanated from the study, there are several recommendations that will be of significant value for future research. More effective ways should be sought so that music as therapy can be a catalyst for positive change in comfort care, especially since technology is playing such a significant role in the improvement of comfort in the recipient community.

The overall recommendations are that the findings from this case study be utilized as a guide and improvement tool to deliver knowledge and comfort in the future. Based on the results, practitioners can implement many of the ideas in the workplace, social, academic, faith-based or educational setting. The recommendations all relate back to the study’s significance and the study was designed to contribute to a better understanding of the topic area. The findings in the qualitative case study showed that given the many benefits, a prudent conclusion is that the practitioner’s experiences would be greatly advantaged by the findings. Incorporating music as therapy into more treatment plans to provide comfort care will be very beneficial going forward…