Capacity Training and Building Activities

Invitation

Jan 26, Feb 2, Feb 9, 2026 Time: 13.30-19.00

Information about Application will be posted on this page on December 3rd, 2025.

What is the MATADOC?

The MATADOC is a rigorous evidence-based assessment of awareness, and an evaluation and treatment planning tool for music therapists working with people who are minimally responsive, or people whose awareness is unknown due to profound brain damage. This includes people born with brain damage, who have had a stroke, or who might have acquired brain injury through accidents such as road traffic accidents, gunshot wounds, drowning or falls.

With which populations can it be used?

People with complex needs resulting in ‘minimal’ responsiveness e.g. 
• adults and children in vegetative state/unresponsive wakefulness syndrome or minimally conscious state following trauma, accident or illness; 
• adults with late/end-stage dementia; 
• adults with advanced neurological illnesses (e.g. Multiple Sclerosis, Huntington’s Disease); 
• children and adults with profound and multiple developmental disabilities; 
• children and adults with end-stage terminal illnesses/at end-of-life. 

The MATADOC has been standardized and validated through research as an assessment of awareness for use with adults with disorders of consciousness (Magee et al., 2014 & 2016). It has been validated as a useful companion to the “gold standard” measure of awareness in disorders of consciousness, the Coma Recovery Scale-Revised (Magee et al., 2023). It has established clinical utility for use with people with end-stage dementia (Magee et al., 2022). The pediatric version (the MuSICCA) is currently being validated (Pool et al., 2020) and has established face validity as a measure of consciousness for children and youth (Pool et al., 2025).

Which clinical settings?

• Rehabilitation settings
• Skilled nursing care and other nursing home settings for diagnosis, treatment planning and evaluation of ongoing treatment
• Intensive care

What does the first level training involve?

• Three online synchronous meetings  
• Experiential sessions
• Video observations prior to the synchronous meetings
• Asynchronous practice between synchronous meetings
  Participants will learn: to understand the clinical presentation of people with disorders of consciousness (DoC); to implement the MATADOC protocol; to complete the MATADOC documentation; how to formulate a diagnosis; and how to communicate the assessment findings to interdisciplinary teams and families. At the heart of this training is experiential work using video observation, practicing the protocol, and learning through case scenarios. Training tools include handouts and training videos that are accessible post-training to assist professionals in applying classroom learning to clinical session. Please note: attendance of all synchronous sessions is required and recording of the sessions cannot be provided.

Materials provided in the training

The registration fee includes costs for 
• the training manual with the MATADOC assessment pack
• practice sheets for experiential training during the synchronous meetings
• essential reading materials in digital format to be completed prior to the training
• digital handouts of all the presentations in the training and references included therein
• access to training videos after the training
• post-training powerpoint presentation for communicating the value of the MATADOC to interdisciplinary teams

Training programme

Asynchronous video materials to be viewed prior to the synchronous training (4 hours):
Introduction to prolonged disorders of consciousness (PDOC) (approx. 1 hour)
Theoretical rationale for “Why use music in PDOC?”( approx. 30 minutes)
Interdisciplinary assessment practices with people with DOC (approx. 55 minutes)
Research to date on MATADOC (approx. 65 mins)
Training clinical videos/ Review of the session protocol (approx. 20 mins)

Synchronous meeting schedule: all times provided in Central European Time. The following is a planned schedule. End and start times are fixed: break times and content may vary slightly.

Schedule

Day 1 The MATADOC Protocol
13:30 Group introduction & questions from videos
14:00 The MATADOC protocol: Running the clinical session (powerpoint, video and questions)
 15.30 Break
 16.00 Experiential work: practicing the protocol procedures (small group and large group work). 
 17.30  Break
 18.00 An introduction to the MATADOC items & the protocol/rating matrix
 19.00 End of day 

Day 2 Rating the MATADOC assessment
13:30 Verbal description of Principal Subscale, Items 1 – 5
14.30 Video observation and rating Principal Subscale items 1-5; Review of ratings and questions
15:30 Break
16.00 Verbal description of Subscale 2, Items 6-7
16:30 Verbal description of Subscale 3 Items 8-14
17.15 Break
17.45 Verbal description of Subscale 3 Items 8-14 (cont.)
18.30 Recap of items
18.45 Developing competency (optional level 2 training)
19.00  End of day 
 
Before day 3 you will be required to rate a video independently. Bring your ratings on Day 3.

Day 3 Scoring the MATADOC 
13:30 Recap of items; Review of your independent ratings; questions
15.00 Break
15.30 Scoring the MATADOC: Session 1
16.45 Break
17.00 Scoring the MATADOC: Session 2
18.00 Break
18.15 MATADOC for post-assessment intervention: using the MATADOC as an evaluation tool
18:45 Final questions
19.00 End of training