Understanding risk perceptions and responses of the public and health care professionals toward Clostridium difficile: A qualitative interpretive description study

Copyright as a Barrier to Music Therapy Telehealth Interventions: Qualitative Interview Study

Background

Music therapy is a multifaceted discipline that harnesses the power of music to treat a wide range of patient populations. A therapist who plays music in a private room for a patient is not subject to copyright restrictions on public performances. However, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, music therapy is no longer strictly confined to the face-to-face setting. This study explores music therapists’ perceptions of copyright law with respect to their ability to provide mediated services to their clients.

Objective

The objectives of our study were two-fold. The first was to investigate whether concerns about copyright law are hampering the diffusion of telehealth innovations, and the second was whether these concerns are causing music therapists to avoid therapeutically beneficial telehealth interventions.

Methods

Semistructured interviews were conducted with credentialed music therapists (n=18) in the United States between May 2020 and June 2020. With participants’ consent, we used video conference technology to record and transcribe the in-depth interviews. The median interview length was 45 (SD 16.37) minutes. This theoretically informed study employed thematic analysis of the interview data.

Results

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of telehealth interventions to facilitate therapy outside of private face-to-face environments: environments where music therapy practices are largely shielded from copyright infringement concerns. Five main themes emerged, including therapists’ uncertainty about permissible uses of music and therapists’ erring on the side of caution causing lost opportunities for care. Our interview data suggest music therapists have altered telehealth interventions in suboptimal ways to avoid copyright liability in a physically distanced environment.

Conclusions

Some music therapists “drag their feet” on offering therapeutically appropriate telehealth services to clients because of copyright concerns. Our findings suggest innovative mediated therapies were shied away from or abandoned. These findings offer a novel contribution to the public health literature by highlighting copyright law as an unexpected and unwelcome barrier to the diffusion of music therapy practices in technology-mediated settings.

Level of Knowledge of Medical Staff on the Basis of the Survey in Terms of Risk Management, Associated with Clostridioides difficile Infections

Infections caused by the toxigenic strains of Clostridioides difficile in the hospital environment pose a serious public health problem. The progressive increase in hospital infections in Poland indicates that risk management is a tool that is not used in an effective way and significantly differs from the goals set by the Leading Authorities, the Ministry of Health and its subordinate units. Systematic education of medical personnel constitutes the basic element of rational risk management aimed at reducing the number of infections as it allows for the transfer of knowledge, development of appropriate organizational procedures, and improves internal communication. This paper presents the results of a survey conducted in hospital facilities throughout Poland. The study dealt with what medical personnel know about channels of transmission and prevention of Clostridioides difficile infections in the hospital setting, professional training and risk management in terms of reducing the number of infections. The survey reveals that Clostridioides difficile continues to be a serious problem in the inpatient care system. Procedures and management strategies implemented by hospitals in order to limit the spread of the pathogen are predominantly focused on short-term action, which does not lead to a real improvement in terms of hospitalized patients' safety. The infection risk management system was assessed at a fairly low level. The obtained research results confirmed the research hypotheses that had been formulated.