Helen Shoemark

Profile Picture of Helen Shoemark

Helen Shoemark

  • Boyer College of Music and Dance

    • Music Education and Music Therapy

      • Associate Professor

Biography

Helen Shoemark came to Temple University in 2015. Dr Shoemark previously held a Career Development Fellowship at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Melbourne Australia, while also working as a senior music therapy clinician at the Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne. She supervised and taught graduate research at the University of Queensland, providing the third arm of an integrated life as clinician-researcher-teacher. Helen is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Music Therapy, and a former President of the Australian Music Therapy Association.

Research Interests

  • Helen Shoemark's current research is in team-based service development for creative arts therapies in acute health settings. Using a collaborative reasoning model from a team science team approach
  • Dr Shoemark is developing a brief program to develop capacity to deal with rapidly changing systems of modern healthcare. Her clinical research focus is on universal level programs to support parental confidence and infant development in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Her interest is specifically in expressive communication within the parent-infant dyad
  • and the place of musicality in that interaction.

Courses Taught

Number

Name

Level

MUED 4613

Music Therapy Foundations

Undergraduate

MUED 8612

Music Therapy Foundation

Graduate

MUED 8619

Music Therapy Education and Training

Graduate

MUED 9641

Music Therapy Doctoral Seminar

Graduate

MUED 9642

Music Therapy Research Apprenticeship

Graduate

MUED 9643

Music Therapy Research Apprenticeship

Graduate

MUED 9680

Music Therapy: Special Topics: NICU Music Therapy

Graduate

Selected Publications

Recent

  • Shoemark, H., Dahlstrøm, M., Bedford, O., & Stewart, L. (2021). The effect of a voice-centered psycho-educational program on maternal self-efficacy: A feasibility study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(5), 1-9. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18052537.

  • Heiderscheit, A., Vernisie, S., Magee, W., & Shoemark, H. (2021). Generating Evidence of Critical Care Nurses' Perceptions, Knowledge, Beliefs, and Use of Music Therapy, Aromatherapy, and Guided Imagery. Dimensions of Critical Care Nursing, 40(1), 59-61. doi: 10.1097/DCC.0000000000000452.

  • McCarthy, M. & Shoemark, H. (2019). Infants with cancer: The Oncology Unit as their second home. In Array, Supporting Vulnerable Babies and Young Children, How to Work with Complex Challenges (pp. 245-261). London; Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley.

  • Shoemark, H. (2022). Returning musicality to parents: Constructing a strategy using maternal voice. International Journal of Birth and Parent Education, 6(2), 29-32. United Kingdon.

  • Shoemark, H. & Tucquet, B. (2022). Family-centred music therapy for infants with complex medical and surgical needs. In Array, Music therapy for premature and newborn infants. Dallas: Barcelona Publishers.

  • Morell, L. & Shoemark, H. (2018). An ecological perspective on music programmes for at-risk children and families in Australia. International Journal of Community Music, 11(3), 337-352. doi: 10.1386/IJCM.11.3.337_1.

  • Brockenshire, N., Newall, F., Chenhall, R., & Shoemark, H. (2018). Clowning around: Understanding the role of clown doctors at a major pediatric hospital. PEDIATRICS, 142. 10.1542/peds.142.1_MeetingAbstract.448

  • Shoemark, H. (2018). Time Together: A Feasible Program to Promote parent-infant Interaction in the NICU. Music Therapy Perspectives, 36(1), 6-16. doi: 10.1093/mtp/mix004.

  • Brockenshire, N., Newall, F., Chenhall, R., & Shoemark, H. (2022). Clowning around: Understanding the role of clown doctors at the Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne (RCH). INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INTEGRATED CARE, 18. 10.5334/ijic.s1165

  • Shoemark, H. (2017). Empowering parents in singing to hospitalized infants: The role of the music therapist. In Early Vocal Contact and Preterm Infant Brain Development: Bridging the Gaps Between Research and Practice (pp. 205-215). doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-65077-7_12.

  • Tan, E. & Shoemark, H. (2017). Case study: The feasibility of using song to cue expressive language in children with specific language impairment. Music Therapy Perspectives, 35(1), 63-70. doi: 10.1093/mtp/miv039.