The project in summary

Music-therapy sessions for children with congenital heart diseases and chronically ill hospitalized at the Hôpital des Enfants des HUG (Genève).

The project in detail

Successfully piloted in 2019-2022, the project aims to strengthen the music-therapy interventions inside 6 paediatric wards of HUG (ICU, MED B1-B2, paediatric surgery, oncology and neonatal care unit) and in parallel, to launch the preparatory phase of a research study at the neonatal care unit.
More specifically, the project aims to:

  • humanize the hospital experience and allow young patients to build a space of autonomy and freedom, from where to recover their identity as active subjects;
  • reactivate their creative abilities and interpersonal ties to reduce the feeling of isolation and loneliness, induced by medical treatments, and mitigate their feeling of powerlessness in the face of illness;
  • improve the doctor-patient relationship through a sensory stimulation that, through play, enhance the externalization of feelings, sensations and emotions;
  • improve the medical work environment, and reduce the stress of doctors, paramedics and nurses;
  • extend and replicate music-therapy interventions inside the neonatal care unit and disseminate the Best Practices in other contexts of health discomfort in Switzerland.

Expected Beneficiaries during the project period

  • 160 children (0-18 years ages), in long-term care at HUG, and suffering from serious and/or degenerative pathologies;
  • 80 children, with congenital heart diseases or suffering from cardiovascular diseases, aged 1 month-18 years, primarily coming from Africa and participating to the program of the association Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque, based in Paris;
  • 30 premature babies, in the neonatal care unit of HUG.

In 2023, with Alta Mane support, the following activities are foreseen:

  • individual music-therapy sessions (35 minutes/1 hour per week) offered throughout the hospitalization and tailored to the needs, abilities and socio-cultural specificities of the young patients;
  • monitoring and capitalization of music-therapy interventions;
  • in collaboration with the medical and nursing staff, launch of the preparatory phase of a research study at the neonatal care unit of HUG (identification of research axes and operational modalities);
  • refinement of the linguistic glossary (audio recording in 12 languages).