Medicine, Music and Mind - Reflections for an interdisciplinary approach

Code:

OPT2_36

Acronym:

MMM-RAI

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Medicine

Instance: 2024/2025 - 2S (of 17-02-2025 to 13-06-2025)

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Medical Teaching
Course/CS Responsible:	Integrated Masters Degree in Medicine

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
MIM	34	Official Study Plan	2	-	3	28	81

Teaching language

Suitable for English-speaking students
Obs.: Português

Objectives

Promote the knowledge and interest for Arts and Humanities.

Development of medical and artistic skills, in order to enhance humanity, creativity, reflection, expression, and communication skills.

Understand Music´s therapeutic potential as a medical intervention.

Understand the specialized medical approach's importance in artists' health problems, particularly musicians, given the particularities of the artists' context.

Acquisition of theoretical and practical knowledge about the connection between Medicine, Music, and Neurosciences and how to create synergies between the different areas.

Promote the clinical investigation in Music Medicine and Musicians/Performing Arts Medicine

Transition musical/artistic/performative skills to clinical practice and medical and scientific communication (pairs, doctor-patient, doctor-society).

Learning outcomes and competences

At the end of this course, students will be able to:

Understand the role of Music in Medicine.

Recognize the doctor’s role in the artistic context and the importance of an interdisciplinary approach.

Identify and recognize the major synergies between Medicine, Music and Neuroscience in terms of investigation and clinical practice.

Recognize the importance of the Arts in the humanization of Health Services.

Demonstrate transversal skills necessary for the systematization and transmission of knowledge, including writing and presenting a scientific paper in the area of Medicine and Music.

Working method

Presencial

Pre-requirements (prior knowledge) and co-requirements (common knowledge)

No prior (or concurrent) knowledge of music is required to take this course.

Program

1. Introduction to the main themes of the curricular unit: Medicine, Music, and Mind.


2. Music Medicine.


3. Music neuroscience and neurophysiology.


4. Music: benefits and neuromodulator role.


5. Medical interventions using music and its role in the treatment of neurological, psychiatric, and musculoskeletal disorders or other clinical situations such as chronic pain. Neurologic Music Therapy and other therapeutic interventions with music.


6. Performing Arts Medicine, in particular, Musicians' Medicine.


7. Main health problems in musicians and the importance of a specialized medical approach given the artistic context.


8. Music in clinical practice.


9. Organization of a specialized consultation in Music Medicine and Musicians' Medicine.


10. Clinical Research in Music Medicine and Musicians/Performing Arts Medicine.


11. Transition musical / artistic / performing skills to the practice of medicine, in its various dimensions (clinical, research, education).

Mandatory literature

Zão A, Altenmüller E, Azevedo L.; Development and Initial Validation of the First Questionnaire to Evaluate Performance-related Pain Among Musicians with Different Backgrounds: Performance-related Pain Among Musicians Questionnaire (PPAM), 2024 (Zão A, Altenmüller E, Azevedo L. Development and Initial Validation of the First Questionnaire to Evaluate Performance-related Pain Among Musicians with Different Backgrounds: Performance-related Pain Among Musicians Questionnaire (PPAM). J Occup Reh)
Zão A, Altenmüller E, Azevedo L.; Factors Associated with Performance-Related Pain Among Musicians: A Multicenter Study Using Validated Tools, 2024 (Zão A, Altenmüller E, Azevedo L. Factors Associated with Performance-Related Pain Among Musicians: A Multicenter Study Using Validated Tools. J Occup Rehabil. 2024 Jul 16. doi: 10.1007/s10926-024-10222-x.)
Zão A, Altenmüller E, Azevedo L.; Performance-related pain and disability among music students versus professional musicians: a multicenter study using a validated tool., 2024 (Zão A, Altenmüller E, Azevedo L. Performance-related pain and disability among music students versus professional musicians: a multicenter study using a validated tool. Pain Med. 2024 Sep 1;25(9):568-576.)
Zão A, Altenmüller E, Azevedo L. ; Performance-Related Pain Among Musicians Questionnaire (PPAM): Multicenter Validation of the First Questionnaire to Evaluate Performance-Related Pain Among Musicians With Different Musical Backgrounds, 2024 (Zão A, Altenmüller E, Azevedo L. Performance-Related Pain Among Musicians Questionnaire (PPAM): Multicenter Validation of the First Questionnaire to Evaluate Performance-Related Pain Among Musicians With Different Musical Backgrounds. J Pain. 2024 Fe)
Zão A, Coimbra D, Aguiar-Branco C, Altenmüller E, Azevedo L. ; The Portuguese version of the musculoskeletal pain intensity and interference questionnaire for musicians (MPIIQM-Pt): Translation, cultural adaptation, and multicenter validation study in professional orchestra musicians, 2023 (Zão A, Coimbra D, Aguiar-Branco C, Altenmüller E, Azevedo L. The Portuguese version of the musculoskeletal pain intensity and interference questionnaire for musicians (MPIIQM-Pt): Translation, cultural adaptation, and multicenter validation study in )
Fancourt D, Finn S; What is the evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and well-being?: A scoping review, 2019 (Fancourt D, Finn S. What is the evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and well-being? A scoping review [Internet]. Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe; 2019. PMID: 32091683.)
Walter R. Frontera; DeLisa.s physical medicine & rehabilitation. ISBN: 978-1-4511-0911-5
Loewy J. ; Underlying music mechanisms influencing the neurology of pain: an integrative model., Brain Sci - 12(10):1317, 2022
Bradt J et al.; Music interventions for improving psychological and physical outcomes in people with cancer. , Cochrane Database Syst Rev., 2021
Xu C et al.; Potential benefits of music therapy on stroke rehabilitation., Oxid Med Cell Longev. 2022, 2022
Lee J. ; The effects of music on pain: a meta-analysis., J Music Ther, 2016
Altenmüller E, Jabusch HC.; Focal dystonia in musicians: phenomenology, pathophysiology, triggering factors, and treatment., Med Probl Perform Art., 2010

Complementary Bibliography

Thaut M et al. ; Handbook of neurologic Music Therapy.
Rennie C et al. ; Music therapy as a form of nonpharmacologic pain modulation in patients with cancer: a systematic review of the current literature. , Cancers (Basel)., 2022
Farinha Caroço MT, Zão A, Ribeiro J, Fialho A, Milet V, Meira B.; Musician's dystonia in a percussionist - clinical video analysis and botulinum toxin intervention: a case report. , 2024 (Farinha Caroço MT, Zão A, Ribeiro J, Fialho A, Milet V, Meira B. Musician's dystonia in a percussionist - clinical video analysis and botulinum toxin intervention: a case report. J Rehabil Med. 2024 Mar 14;56:jrm34877. doi: 10.2340/jrm.v56.34877.)

Teaching methods and learning activities

1. A weekly theoretical-practical class, lasting two hours each, with a theoretical and practical component, varying throughout the semester, according to the content lectured in each class.

As part of the practical component, students will have the opportunity to:

• Perform therapeutic interventions with music, experience its therapeutic effects, and enhance their performance, expression, and communication skills. Transition the acquired experience and skills to the medical context.


• Observe hospital consultations, specialized in addressing the health problems of musicians, and the use of music as a medical therapeutic intervention, accompanying the lecturer (physician and coordinator of these consultations).

2. Completion of a written scientific paper on one of the topics lectured in the course, prepared in groups (3 students per group), which should be submitted by the last class of the course. Oral presentation of the scientific work, in the penultimate class of the course, with the duration of 10 minutes each.

keywords

Health sciences > Medical sciences > Medicine

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Participação presencial	25,00
Apresentação/discussão de um trabalho científico	40,00
Exame	35,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Frequência das aulas	28,00
Apresentação/discussão de um trabalho científico	10,00
Estudo autónomo	43,00
Total:	81,00

Eligibility for exams

Attendance is one of the parameters for approval, and a minimum attendance of 75% of the scheduled classes is required. Missing more than 25% of these classes implies failure.

Calculation formula of final grade

The evaluation consists of the following components:

• Final exam: written multiple choice test of the subjects lectured in class (35%) (minimum score of 10.0);
• Preparation and submission of a written scientific paper on one of the topics covered in the course and its oral presentation (40%);
• Participation: assiduity and continuous evaluation of class participation (35%)

Final grade: final exam (35%) + scientific work (40%) + participation (25%)

The final grade is on a scale from 0 to 20, rounded to the tenths, and a minimum score of 9.5 is required for the student to be approved.

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

The special evaluation consists of a multiple choice test (35%) and a written scientific paper on one of the subjects lectured during the classes (40%). For the final grade, the previous continuous assessment will be considered, i.e. class participation (minimum attendance of 75% of classes for approval) (25%).

Classification improvement

The evaluation consists of a multiple choice test (35%) and a written scientific paper on one of the subjects lectured during the classes (40%). For the final grade, the previous continuous assessment will be considered, i.e. class participation (minimum attendance of 75% of classes for approval) (25%).