The precarious nature of musical encounters in healthcare: An ethnographic multi-case study focusing on the perspectives of care professionals and musicians

Background This paper presents an ethnographic multi-case study exploring how musical encounters in healthcare contribute to experiences of connection, focusing on the perspectives of care professionals and musicians. In addition to studies on music in healthcare that primarily examine music as an auditory stimulus and its effects on care recipients, this study focuses on performative music and considers its impact on the professional level and within the broader organization as well. Methods A variety of musical encounters were observed in three healthcare settings. The encounters were examined ethnographically by open observations and open interviews, enhanced by an elicitation technique. Results Inductive analysis revealed two major themes: threshold experiences and connective experiences , organized across three levels: within the musical encounters, among involved professionals, and within the broader organization. These themes comprise a total of 19 subthemes. Precariousness emerged as an overarching construct, articulating the dynamics between threshold and connective experiences. These findings demonstrate that musical encounters have the potential to foster connective experiences. However, the occurrence of positive impact appears to be precarious, and this precariousness is twofold: In a positive sense, it reflects the delicacy of the process within the musical encounters, due to their artistic nature. In a negative sense, it highlights the vulnerability of musical encounters, arising from insufficient sustainable support at the organizational level. Conclusions To strengthen the potential of musical encounters in healthcare to impact connective experiences, it is recommended to pay greater attention to their precarious nature – by cherishing the delicacy of the encounters themselves, while actively addressing the threats posed on the organizational level.