The review considered the effectiveness of music therapy interventions for people on the autism spectrum. Music therapy is defined as the planned use of musical experiences and the relationships that develop through them for therapeutic goals delivered through regular sessions by a music therapist.
The New Zealand Autism Spectrum Disorder Guideline second edition was published in 2016.
As part of their commitment to the implementation of the Guideline, the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education agreed to establish a Living Guideline process. This process is where a guideline is regularly updated and refined to reflect new evidence and changing user needs. Each update is reported in a comprehensive supplementary paper.
This supplementary paper describes a systematic review which aims to update the guideline with evidence relating to music therapy published since January 2004.