Feasibility and acceptability of the Resilience Songwriting Program for adolescent bereavement.

The Resilience Songwriting Program (RSP) for adolescent bereavement aims to offer a space for adolescents to nurture strengths and inner resources while also processing grief alongside peers. This study explored the feasibility and acceptability of the RSP with five males and five females (ages 11–17 years) who self-identified as grieving. Implemented as eight, 90-minute sessions at two community-based settings and as eight, 60-minute sessions at a middle school, feasibility data included tracking referrals, enrollment, attendance per site, reasons for missed sessions, and reasons for withdrawal. Input from three music therapists on barriers to and facilitators of successful RSP implementation was also collected. Acceptability data were obtained through individual post-program qualitative interviews and journaling completed during RSP sessions. The adolescents found the RSP acceptable, relevant, and meaningful. Recruitment was most feasible in the school setting, yet the music therapist found it challenging to complete the RSP protocol within the 60-minute session time frame. Music therapists in the community-based settings found the RSP protocol feasible to implement in the 90-minute session time frame. Future studies on the RSP should consider group composition, participants’ readiness to share song recordings with non-group members, and the clinical appropriateness of taking home song recordings.