Derrington 2012 thesis.pdf - Anglia Ruskin Research Online

5.3.3 Recruitment and grouping
It had been hoped to recruit 20 young people to the study, ten for group A and ten for
group B, with five students from The Centre School and five students from CVC in
each. To cover dropout it was decided that up to 25 students could be referred. In
total, 11 were referred from CVC and 14 from The Centre School.
These students and their parents or carers were given an introductory guide to music
therapy which was created specifically for the project (appendices 5.3.3a and 5.3.3b).
These leaflets, the participant information sheets and the consent forms (appendices
5.2.3b – 5.2.3e) were explained and read out to them, as necessary, by an instructor or
teacher. In some cases, where a meeting with a parent or carer was not possible, the
forms were sent home with the student and, once returned with both the parent’s and
student’s signature giving permission, would be confirmed by a phone call from the
head of year. A record was kept of consent and notes about each referral (appendix
5.3.3c) and a file was set up for each student (appendix 5.3.3e). Regardless of
whether consent was given or not, the referral was followed up in the usual way and
the student was still offered music therapy.
In total, 22 students and their parents/carers agreed to participate: thirteen students
from The Centre School and nine from CVC. For ethical reasons, and particularly
considering the volatile and vulnerable nature of this client group, those in greater
need received therapy first. The teachers who made the referrals were asked to
prioritise whom they considered to be more in urgent need of therapy and these were
the students who formed group A. The lead teacher of the deaf was certain that both
students with hearing-impairment needed to be placed in group A. Therefore, group
A had twelve participants and group B had ten. Although group A was larger,
following the teachers’ prioritisation as requested, the groups were matched by age
and schooling because of the eligibility criteria. Figure 5.3.3 shows the distribution of
students in both schools from the time of referral to the end of the project.
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