‘I’m just grateful for it:’ a reflexive thematic analysis of service users’ experiences of recreational music therapy during substance detoxification

Background While meta-analyses indicate that music therapy can be effective for craving, motivation, and treatment readiness in adults with substance use conditions (SUC), less is known about how participants experience these kinds of interventions. This gap in the literature is consequential as both recovery-oriented approaches and evidence-based practice center service users’ lived experiences and intervention preferences.Objective To understand the lived experience of participating in a single group recreational music therapy session in adults with SUC hospitalized on a detoxification unit.Method A Board-Certified music therapist facilitated 12 group rock and roll bingo sessions over six-months and a research assistant then individually interviewed 26 participants. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyze transcripts, and a separate music therapy researcher reviewed the transcripts and findings to ensure the findings were credible.Results We identified themes regarding the service users and their contexts, music as a powerful normalizing tool, and the qualified music therapist. Participants described how they experienced favorable changes that they attributed to taking part in the intervention including from skeptical to grateful, from isolated to connected, and from feeling unwell to feeling better.Conclusions By centering the participants’ lived experiences, the findings provide a service user-centric perspective of the impacts of a single recreational music therapy germane to adults with SUC on a detoxification unit.