Haven: Sharing receptive music listening to foster connections and wellbeing for people with dementia who are nearing the end of life, and those who care for them

Abstract

This paper reports on research exploring the effects of music played for 12 dyads: a care home resident (‘resident’) with dementia and someone closely connected to him/her (‘carer’). Six individualised music interventions (3 live and 3 pre-recorded) were played by the first author on solo cello within five Scottish non-NHS care homes. All interventions were video-recorded. Semi-structured interviews with carer participants, key staff, and managers explored their responses to interventions. Thick descriptions of video recordings and interview transcripts were thematically coded using Nvivo. A key finding was that structural elements of the interventions combined with characteristics of the music played facilitated an internalised experience of ‘haven’; sonically transporting listeners away from their present reality and fulfilling the basic human needs for inclusion, comfort, identity, occupation and attachment.

Mentoring and peer support as facilitators of arts-based practice in care homes

“…This study has started to fill a gap in the research evidence by exploring the role of mentoring for arts-based practitioners. It also builds on previous findings that suggest there is a need for training that supports creative arts specialists to develop interpersonal and nonverbal communication skills, particularly when working with care home residents living with dementia (Dobson 2000;Mottram 2003;Coaten et al 2013;Garabedian & Kelly 2018).…”

“…Care homes can be particularly challenging settings for artists, whose spontaneous approaches can be in sharp contrast with environments that are often institutional and highly scheduled (Rix et al 2018). Previous UK research advocates training for creative arts specialists to develop interpersonal and non-verbal communication skills and gain the confidence of older care home residents, particularly those living with dementia (Garabedian & Kelly 2018;Dobson 2000;Mottram 2003;Coaten et al 2013). The Baring Foundation's Creative Homes report in the UK (Cutler, Kelly and Silver 2011) recommends that arts practitioners working in care homes be attuned to the individual interests and needs of residents, that they work in partnership with staff, that they seek to communicate with residents in a variety of ways, that they are flexible, that they seek to engage individuals 'in the moment' and that they are attentive to the health and safety needs of all involved.…”

Challenges and enablers for creative arts practice in care homes

“…As encountered during the Making of Me project, artists may need to understand how to transform or adapt spaces, or change their practice in response to the space available, all of which can involve negotiation with the care setting management and staff (Begault et al 2017). While the quality of the environment may help to shape participants' experiences and their perceptions around the quality of their experience (Tan 2018), it has been argued that an art programme may successfully engender an atmosphere wherein participants can flourish, regardless of the physical realities of the environment (Garabedian and Kelly 2018). A space offering a sense of 'safety and freedom' was suggested to be essential to fostering creative exploration for residents in a care home who were living with dementia and taking part in a poetry group (Swinnen 2014).…”

Dementia: When music is the only way in – An emergency intervention: Innovative Practice

“…Music was perhaps the only means of reaching and connecting with Robert at that moment in time. I feel extremely gratified knowing that, through my cello, I was able to provide Robert some respite -a 'haven' (Garabedian & Kelly, 2018) where music was able to call him back into the present. This unplanned 'emergency' intervention provides rare and vivid insight into the capacity for music to reach and improve the circumstances of an especially agitated person with advanced dementia (Cohen-Mansfield, 2013;S€ ark€ am€ o et al, 2012;Vink et al, 2013).…”

“…This paper describes an ‘emergency’ music intervention I was requested to conduct for a person whose dementia sometimes took him to a very dark place. At the time of this intervention, I was conducting fieldwork for my PhD (Garabedian, 2014; Garabedian & Kelly, 2018). On this particular day, having exhausted all previously successful ways of connecting with Robert (pseudonym), the care home manager telephoned me with an urgent request that I come and play music for Robert.…”