Dimensions of Culture: A Literature Review of Cross-Cultural Competencies for Music Therapists

With the rise in diversity of the population worldwide, mental health professionals are more likely to work with clients with a different culture. Owing to the uneven distribution of accessibility of music therapy, music therapists, especially, have a higher possibility to work cross-culturally. Cross-cultural music therapy is an intricate and sensitive practice involving multicultural issues and different levels of sentiments of the therapists. The existing research is not enough for supporting music therapists working under cross-cultural contexts. This literature review integrates studies in various cross-cultural settings including domestically cross-cultural work, international work, international student context, and cross-cultural supervision context. Findings were analyzed and organized by researchers all over the world, which revealed a group of coherent themes including cross-cultural working challenges, how music can serve as an instrumental role, and how a music therapist can experience personal growth in the clinical work. A cross-cultural competence framework is provided as an aerial view of cross-cultural music therapy process, which therapists can refer to when implementing cross-cultural practices