Melodies of Change: Efficacy of a Music-Based Intervention in Enhancing Desire For Help Among Patients in Selected Rehabilitation Centers in Kenya

Antony Chege, Ph.D., The Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA), Nairobi, Kenya.

Some substance use disorder (SUD) clients get into the treatment edifice without much insight into their problems which often manifests as low desire for help (DH). This influences the treatment process negatively since they may enter treatment but fail to participate and complete it. To assist such clients, there is need for interventions to augment their desire for help. Music-based interventions (MBI) have shown to be effective in enhancing the desire for help among clients with SUD. However, very few studies have been conducted to establish the effectiveness of MBI in enhancing DH and moreover, the few existing studies were carried out in the Western world. Therefore, this creates a need for more studies. The current study sought to establish the effectiveness of MBI in enhancing desire for help among clients with SUDs in selected treatment centers in Kenya. Multi-stage sampling approach was used to obtain 40 participants in a residential SUD treatment center with two branches. One branch served as the experimental group while the other was the control group, each with 20 participants. The research used a quasi-experimental pretest post-test design where the MBI was administered to the treatment group while the control group received treatment as usual (TAU). The Texas Christian University DH subscale was used to measure desire for help pre and post the intervention and the scores compared. ANCOVA was used to analyze the data. The analysis established that there were significant differences between the experimental and the control group (F (1, 33) =32.91, p=.00, n_p² = .50) with the experimental group having significantly higher post-test means on DH compared to the control group after controlling for covariates. The results suggest that MBI is potentially an experiential intervention that can enhance DH among clients with SUDs in Kenya. Therefore, counselors, psychologists and stakeholder in SUD treatment may adopt MBI to enhance DH.

Key Words: Music-based intervention, Music therapy, Desire for help, Substance use disorder.