Im stuck on my essay, can someone help?

[TheDayMyButtWentPsycho]

Really simple question actually - just an issue ive never come across before. I can email my lecturers but i know they wont get back to me until Monday and im trying to crack on with it this weekend.

Im researching a subject (medical) that is big in america with positive effects on its patients.

The UK are archaic when it comes to this therapy. There are no books in my uni library on it, there's very few (Im yet to find any) UK academic studies/journal articles in the uni online library.

i need to be able to state this, but i need to back it up.

I cant just say "theres fuck all therapies in UK" I need to be able to back that up. I need an academic to have said it (otherwise, whats to say it isnt just my bad research skills??)

Ive also found a company online who actually do this therapy and they claim to be the only one in the UK that does this therapy.
i want to state this, but thats just words on their website. My son could have written that for them, so I cant back that up either.

Basically- How do I say theres bugger all in the UK and back that up when theres bugger all in the UK to back it up with?

Ive read countless US journal articles on the subject and as of yet, no one has mentioned the fact that theres bugger all in the UK.

Excuse my typos, blabbering and mistakes, Im typing fast on a laptop im not familiar with.

i hope Ive made sense???

Can you check and say whether it’s available on the NHS?

Email the company and ask one of the practitioners to send you some information about it then you have a direct reference?

Look on the EMA site and check whether it's approved in the UK.

What you could also do is find a support group say on Facebook of people who the therapy is targeted at and ask them to complete a survey of what providers of the therapy are available?

If you can't get something credible from the company, you could write something along the lines of "There appears to be only one company in the UK practicing this therapy, and academic research on its effective and uses is extremely limited with apparently zero published papers in the BMJ, Other Journal, Other Publisher or Other Medical Mag to date."

Can you see if it's mentioned on the NHS choices website?
Would it be a problem if you told us what the therapy is?

I’m not sure what level you’re writing at, but at masters you’re actually allowed an opinion, so I don’t see why you can’t have one either! The key word to use is that “anecdotally” this therapy is not / is hardly used in the UK, and that the author feels this view is compounded by a lack of available research.
Just an idea anyway!

Can you state that a search of the literature showed no published lit in uk journals and put an appendix in to show your keywords, search criteria, databases etc

This is going to be a touch tricky unless you tell us what the therapy is.

Otherwise you can only look at the usual sources - eg NICE - and say that it doesn't appear on their list, which may be factually true without you having to go so far as to say there's nothing in the UK.

The only link to NHS is a Livewell page which started quoting the daily mail. I dont fancy putting that anywhere near my essay.

The therapy itself is absolutely established in the UK and approved.

Its the therapy in the area in which im researching which is premature babies.

The therapy doesnt exist for them, despite loads of research outside the UK showing that it has many benefits.

Morty its Music therapy.

If anyone finds something that I have missed that shows there is little or nothing in the UK then I applaud you, because im well and truly stuck.

Or just looking in the wrong place perhaps?

THing is, ive found loads of material on it. ITs fruitful and interesting. Just not Uk based.

I’d look at nice guidelines etc and so on. Then if you are sure there are no articles on it in the U.K. I’d state that so something along the lines off:- No articles appear to have been published in this area within the U.K. suggesting that this is not common practice as yet. Xyz company state ......

To me you are backing it up by being unable to find relevant literature.

It's always more difficult to find evidence for a negative than a positive. You can simply say that you have found no evidence for its widespread use in the UK and few references to it in the literature. Yes, you might be wrong, but there's nothing else you can do about that at this point, and you know, you're writing an essay. It's not the end of the world if it turns out there's something you've missed.

I cant find anything linked to NICE either.

Birdbrain I know im allowed an opinion, but how do i show that there is genuinely little or nothing out there rather than it just being my crap research skills?

It may not be prescribed but is sometimes available through charities and other organisations. What is suggested as an alternative if anything?

Erm...... have you tried The British Association for Music Therapy (www.bamt.org)?

ok, iM going to go ahead with that. I will also mention the Chiltern music therapy for neonates and state that the claim to be the only one in the Uk to offer that service.

I can always change it later on.

You mentioned this therapy is well-established in the UK for other demographics - could you contact some of the providers directly and ask whether they work with premature infants, or know of anyone who does? At least then if they say no you have a concrete point of reference, e.g. in correspondence dated XXX, Provider X confirmed that there are no UK-based practitioners, or something like that.

www.nhs.uk/news/pregnancy-and-child/can-music-help-premature-infants-sleep-and-feed/

Are you using google scholar? Looking at peer reviewed journals? (Difficult if your uni doesnt subscribe)

I would be looking for reasons why it isnt used here. Funding? Not thought to be of benefit ? Otherwise you risk your essay being biased

fn.bmj.com/content/96/Suppl_1/Fa52.3

errrmm..... why do people put that?

it puts a potential helpful post in automatic an automatically patronising tone.

As far as i know they dont provide a service for Neonates. Im still looking into it of course, but I havent found anything thus far. I have been linked to a Uk journal through that though, so thank you. IM going to read it now and see if its beneficial.

What on earth is the title of the essay? Who set it? I know several people who are music therapists - genuine ones, not hokum stuff.

Context is everything i think.

If OTOH you're trying to write a research paper on the effects of music therapy on babies in a specified age group and are finding it's an area with limited UK-based research, then its surrly perfectly ok to used international studies to make your points as long as the research you are reviewing is sufficiently academic / peer reviewed / credible?

Scabbybabby Thats not academic research, in fact they use the Daily Mail as a reference. they have used an academic paper, but ive already read that. we cannot use NHS websites like that.

LEM I will absolutely be looking into why it isnt used here, im 10 steps ahead of you but first I need to back up why there isnt anything here.

I wouldn't say that there is bugger all in the UK, just state that the popularity of this therapy is well established in the USA and it appears that the UK is also beginning to realise the potential benefits (UK articles on USA research- there are quite a few) and also mention the company leading the way over here, advocating its use and that you expect others to follow suit (or whatever your opinion is). Poorly written but you get my drift.