Low-income parents’ perceptions of the importance of a musical training programme for their children: a qualitative study

BACKGROUND: Despite clear evidence for the effectiveness of musical training in promoting psychological well-being among underprivileged children, parents’ perceptions of the importance of such training for their children remains unknown. METHODS: Of the parents of 171 underprivileged preschool children in Hong Kong who had participated in a free musical training programme, 25 were randomly selected and invited to participate in individual semi-structured interviews. Colaizzi’s descriptive phenomenological data analysis strategy was followed for analysing the data. RESULTS: The results showed that parents identified numerous benefits of the programme for their child, including increased happiness, improved confidence, positive behavioural changes, and enhanced parent-child relationships. At the beginning of the programme, parents tended to disregard the usefulness of musical training but gradually came to recognise its importance for their children’s psychological and social well-being. However, children were limited by their parents’ financial constraints from participating in musical training after the free programme ended. CONCLUSIONS: These findings imply that existing policy may overlook the psychosocial needs of underprivileged children and suggest that more resources should be allocated to facilitate the continuity and sustainability of such a free programme for this vulnerable population. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02762786, registered on May 5, 2016.