Browsing by Subject "Maahanmuuttajat"

The integration of immigrants into Finnish society has become an increasingly important social and equality issue, which underlines the importance of supporting the integration and development of immigrant children. The immigrants in the migration process can be burdened with risks, which can be realized especially among young people because they can also be affected by the difficult situation of their parents in addition to their own stressful experiences. With regard to the mental well-being, research suggests that the majority of immigrant children are doing well, but a small number have persistent problems, that according to research seems to be due an accumulation of stress. The need for support for children and adolescents with an immigrant background is emerged in education, where they perform worse than the general population, which can be influenced by language skills in addition to the mental load. There have been various attempts to solve these problems, one of them being musical interventions; they could support, for example, emotional regulation skills that could alleviate cumulative stress. In addition, it could support parenthood and thus contribute to the overall well-being of the immigrant family. Past research demonstrate that musical interventions have potential in supporting language development, and language has been rased as one of the most important areas where migrant children needs to be supported. This paper examines research evidence on the potential of music training, music interventions and musical interaction in supporting the development of young immigrants. The search of the literature was conducted using OvidMedline database. There is very little research on supporting the development of immigrant children through music, limited to a few studies conducted outside Finland. Individual studies indicated the potential benefits of music interventions in increasing orientation to mainstream culture and supporting language learning especially in terms of phonological awareness. There is preliminary evidence on the impact of music interventions on internalizing and externalizing behavior problems and the effect was found in the externalizing symptoms. It is important to be able to provide migrant children support which is not obstructed by for example lack of language skills. If music interventions are greeted with satisfaction among parents, such as in previous studies, parents might integrate better in health care system, thus supporting the well-being of the whole family, which would also support the child's development.