Innovative music therapy project helps displaced Ukraine and Afghan families

Music 4 Displaced Dyads East and West: Group Music Therapy Intervention with Afghani and Ukrainian Caregiver refugees and their Toddlers

Dr Fabia Franco (1957 – 2024) ‘In Memory of our colleague and mentor Dr Fabia Franco who initiated and was the driving force behind this Project.’

Nooshin Khamoushi, Music Therapist

Music is a very important and very powerful tool so, when it is accompanied with the help of a music therapist it can create a sense of belonging to a group and a sense of community.

Dr Letitia Slabu, Principal Investigator, Middlesex University (From Jan 2024)

We started this project with a feasibility Study last year in 2023 in Spring and we basically run an improvisational music therapy intervention with two Ukrainian groups and really the focus was to reduce poor mental health and improve wellbeing for these refugees and we actually achieved our goal.

This line of research was initiated by Dr Fabia Franco, our colleague who unfortunately is no longer with us anymore and really this current project is an extension of the feasibility project in two directions: 1. Firstly we have included a non-western group, that is an Afghan group alongside an Ukrainian group and this is really important for developing a music therapy intervention that includes mixed cultural groups of refugees because this is really representative of what it is in reality a diverse refugee population in any hosting society. The aim of this project really is to reduce poor mental health and more specifically depression and post-traumatic stress disorder but also improve well-being such as mood and life satisfaction in these refugees. And what is interesting about this improvisational music therapy is that we have included some music elements from the refuge's own culture. So, basically, we're trying to create a context that really values that creates some value around their identity so that refugees feel accepted, they feel connected, they also feel like themselves. So, in other ways we are creating a safe space for them that facilitates authenticity, makes them feel like their true selves so they are able to perceive some commonalities and experience these commonalities with other refugees are able to interact with each other so that could further on encourage them to interact with the hosting society and leads to a better integration of refugees.

Akram Torkian Valashani, Research Fellow and MSc Student, Middlesex University

In the first sessions, Afghan mothers were very guarded. Even when we asked them to clap their hands and actively participate in the session, they held back. Gradually a sense of group intimacy developed, and they participated more in the sessions. The children played with the instruments more and were more engaged with the music therapist. Even for the mothers, the atmosphere of the sessions became more comfortable for them. They smiled more, sang along with the songs more and it was quite evident that a sense of calm, trust and unity was developing within this group. All these positive changes were happening because music was integrating everything.

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Dr Letitia Slabu, Principal Investigator, Middlesex University (From Jan 2024)

We have also included a control group which really allows us to strengthen our ability to draw conclusions and determine as to whether the improvement that we've measured in our intervention is not due to simple passage of time but they're actually due to the music therapy intervention.

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Dr Nina Polytimou, Co-Investigator and Lecturer, UCL, IOE

So, we hope that through these sessions it is also the language and communication development of children that is going to be enhanced and supported and we have reasons to believe that music is particularly powerful in doing that mainly because it is also powerful in creating positive.

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We’re also hoping that the techniques that we use the musical games, the singing of songs that these the mothers are going to take away and then they're going to be doing some of these things with their children at home outside of the space that we are providing.

Mother J., Polina, 19 months

For me this is an individual situation because Paulina doesn’t speak at all, neither Ukrainian nor English. She only says basic words but my older son spoke more at her age. However, after these music classes, she started to speak, not even speak but sing words. She doesn’t use these words in everyday life but when she sings, she pronounces all the words of the song clearly.

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So, through creating an interaction that is so emotionally charged in a positive way attention might be heightened and when attention is heightened and the child becomes more alert to the stimuli in their environment this in turn might be enhancing their learning of linguistic stimuli but also um anything in their environment that is worth learning.

Dr Elizabeth Coombes, Co-Investigator and Senior Lecturer, University of South Wales

Try and put yourself in the place of somebody who's moved from a different country to another country and all the challenges that that might bring so not just language but social norms even things like working out which bus to catch everything just feels Topsy turvy and really difficult and challenging. And what can happen to families in that situation is that parents can feel really alienated and disempowered in their role as parents this can then impact the bond that should naturally be there between children and parents so what music therapy can offer then are these ways that can help bring that back together and give parent and child a voice and a way to be together in a safe environment created by the music therapy.

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Dr Tamara Fedotiuk, Research Fellow and Visiting Researcher, Middlesex University

This project is very important for our Ukrainian refugees because, in addition to the typical problems faced by refugees our Ukrainian mothers continue to experience the ongoing stress of a prolonged war and significant losses. Therefore, despite being physically here, they are emotionally and mentally still in Ukraine. Here, in the music therapy sessions, they have the opportunity to find peace, support, and the chance to communicate with each other and to see how music develops their children and improves their relationship with them.

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goes up and down, up and down and up

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Mother L., David, 12 months

I love music very much, and I have become more clam, balanced and positive. My child feels it too. Together, as a unit, we have this connection. Therefore, the benefits of participating in the programme and its impact are indeed significant and we greatly benefit from these sessions. We are very grateful for them.

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Techniques that we might be thinking of using as music therapists with this client group would be things that would really tend to support not just the interaction between the mother and baby but also the child's developing interest in the world around it. So, we would be thinking of choosing instruments very specifically that are going to be easy and simple for the child to use and experience that are going to offer different sensory um textures and sounds and also perhaps importantly things that can be used as pairs between mother and child we'd be thinking about things such as mirroring and matching. So, mirroring as you might imagine is where for example a mum might be shaking a Maraca and the baby then begins to imitate the mother or it might be the other way around the baby starts to do something and mother starts to do something as well and what the music therapist does then is to enhance that interaction through perhaps using some guitar playing some chords and maybe even singing about what's happening so a little Story begins to build as what's happening between mother and child.

Dr Beth Pickard, Co-Investigator and Senior Lecturer, University of South Wales

In this project I'm involved with my colleague, Liz Coombes, we are designing and supervising the music therapy intervention itself, we're also involved in the qualitative research. So, particularly the interviews with the mothers and analysing that also we're interested to think about the fact that through displacement it may be that some of the young people might present with some additional needs or disability or impact of trauma and through the music that might be a way that that can be identified and also accommodated.

Mother G., Sofia, 15 months

It only has a positive impact on my child. She has become more receptive to music. She has started dancing to the music more often. Even my husband noticed and said: “Halya she has started dancing so often”. We are pleased. We have gained a lot of energy from the interaction and the music therapy itself.

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Dr Anthony Mangiacotti, BioRadio expert and Post-doctoral Researcher, Middlesex University

In order to measure the psychophysiological change due to the music therapy we are collecting some measurements like the heart rate or respiration rate and in order to do this we are using a small equipment that is portable it's called BioRadio and it allows us to bring a lot here in the field. Thanks to these measurements we are able to understand the level of stress of the mothers and infants. And basically we think that music therapy can reduce the stress level of these people.

I think this is a highly Innovative project in a UK context and in an international context as well, and although, we are using um some fundamental concepts and ideas such as communicative musicality which is the interaction between parent and baby and the musical nature of that that's a fundamental part of most music therapy practices. But to be applying and think about that in the context of displaced dyads is unique and is innovative and I think it's also important that we are researching this process from the outset so that we can capture the impact that it may have and expand the project to benefit more people. In the future we are hopeful that with the successful completion of this program we're getting closer to integrating these refugees in the hosting society but also they become more empowered by becoming more active and independent members of the community in their own communities that will ultimately help and benefit the hosting society

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See you later see you later see you

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This project is supported by the UnityHub Charity and Hopscotch Charity and they've actually helped us and put us in touch with the refugees with different groups of refugees that is, Afghans and Ukrainians but also through the interactions with and through our collaborations with them it helped us integrate into our protocol various nuances to acquire culture sensitivity really yeah into our project. The Old Diorama Center has been instrumental in finding a location in central London for our project we have been funded through a large Grant from Music Therapy Charity and we received some support from the collaborating universities.

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