Efficacy of the Tuned In music emotion regulation program in international university students

Figures & data

Table 1. Content of Tuned In sessions, with examples of group activities.

	Content	Example of activities
Session 1: Feelings are your friends	Introducing basic emotions and Russell’s circumplex model, and applying these to music	Group discussions about emotions. Learning to ‘tune in’ with Russell’s circumplex model, for examples of happy, sad, and anxious music.
Session 2: Fearing the worst	Anxiety, stress, and procrastination	Body sensations colouring while listening to positive music. Diaphragmatic breathing exercise. Listening to and discussing participant-selected music for dealing with anticipatory anxiety, and focus music.
Session 3: Staying strong and moving on	Perfectionism, rumination, and motivating music	Lyric analysis on overcoming perfectionism, discussion of musical elements that contribute to managing emotions. Listening to and discussing participant-selected music for using music to stay on task when tired, when dealing with disappointment, and rumination.
Session 4: Finding the fun	Happy music, music and language, confidence, and celebrating achievements	Imagery activity while listening to chosen music for having fun or feeling happy, lyric analysis for an uplifting song. Listening to and discussing participant-selected music for celebrating achievements.

Figure 1. Recruitment flowchart.

Table 2. Summary of demographic variables.

Characteristic	Treatment (N = 23)	Waitlist (N = 27)
Age	20.9 (3.36)	20.5 (2.76)
Years in Australia	1.46 (1.43)	1.18 (1.13)
Gender
Female	17	24
Male	6	3
Musical Identity
Nonmusician	3	2
Music-loving nonmusician	12	19
Amateur musician	7	4
Serious amateur musician	1	1
Semi-professional musician	0	0
Professional Musician	0	1
Ethnicity
North-West European	1	0
North African & Middle-Eastern	1	0
South-East Asian	12	17
North-East Asian	7	2
Southern & Central Asian	0	5
Multi-Ethnicity	1	3

Table 3. Summary of key variables at Time 1.

	Mean (SD)
Motivated Music Use (MUSE-BAQ Module 4)
Transcendence	3.71 (.67)
Emotion regulation	3.74 (.58)
Identity	3.73 (.70)
Social reasons	3.36 (.63)
Cognitive regulation	4.00 (.67)
Positive Affective Response to Music (MARS Positive)	4.89 (.88)
Negative Affective Response to Music (MARS Negative)	2.77 (.84)
Emotion Awareness
I am aware of what happens in my body when I feel strong emotions	5.06 (.98)
I am able to name these feelings (e.g. I’m happy, sad, anxious, etc.)	5.12 (1.12)
I am confident that I can manage stress related to assessment at university	4.50 (1.33)
I am confident that I can manage my anxiety	4.20 (1.34)
I am confident that I can manage my anger	4.94 (1.46)
I am confident that I can manage my sadness	4.74 (1.29)
I am confident that I can enhance or maintain my happiness	4.82 (1.29)
I have a range of healthy ways of managing my emotions	4.80 (1.25)
Effectiveness of Music as a Coping Strategy	5.18 (.90)
Difficulties in Emotion Regulation	39.82 (13.73)
Well-being (SWEMWBS)	21.46 (3.68)
Psychological Distress (PsyCheck)	6.58 (4.20)

Note. Scores for Motivated Music Use are averaged per sub-scale.

Figure 2. Interaction effects for (A) Motivated Music Use and (B) Positive Affective Response to Music for Treatment and Waitlist groups.

Figure 3. Interaction effects for aspects of Emotion Awareness, (A) Confidence in enhancing or maintaining happiness and (B) having a range of healthy ways of managing emotions for Treatment and Waitlist groups.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, DV, upon reasonable request.