Towards sustainable implementation of music in daily care of people with dementia and their spouses

Abstract

Highlights Home-based music therapy helps to implement the use of music in dementia care. The use of songs empowers both the persons with dementia and their spouses. Ongoing support is critical and enables continuous use of music in daily care.

Integrative review of singing and music interventions for family carers of people living with dementia

“…A total of 342 family carers participated in the studies. The smallest sample size of family carers was n = 2 ( Hanser and Clair, 1995 ; Gardner, 1999 ; Dassa et al , 2020 ) and the largest was n = 59 ( Särkämö et al , 2013 , 2014 ). Gender was reported in 26 studies (28 publications).…”

“…Studies captured how participating in a music intervention together facilitated positive identity construction, increasing awareness of the person living with dementia’s identity outside of their diagnosis ( Dupuis and Pedlar, 1995 ; Gardner, 1999 ; Davidson and Almeida, 2014 ; Unadkat et al , 2017 ). They noted the ability of the music interventions to ‘bring back’ people living with dementia to their family carers [( Clair and Ebberts, 1997 ), p. 158; Melhuish et al , 2019 ; Dassa et al , 2020 ] and to partially restore lost or diminished aspects of their personalities ( Gardner, 1999 ; Shibazaki and Marshall, 2017 ). They captured how musical reminiscence allowed them to access their relationship before dementia ( Baker et al , 2012 ; Davidson and Almeida, 2014 ).…”

“…Twenty-one studies reported that participating in the music intervention helped family carers to cope with their caring role. Dassa et al ( Dassa et al , 2020 ) found that music became an additional caring tool for the family carers. The carers used it to stimulate, motivate, calm and/or improve the mood of their care recipient ( Dassa et al , 2020 ).…”

“…Dassa et al ( Dassa et al , 2020 ) found that music became an additional caring tool for the family carers. The carers used it to stimulate, motivate, calm and/or improve the mood of their care recipient ( Dassa et al , 2020 ). Similarly, the family carers in other studies are planning to, or have continued to, use music with their care recipients ( Clair, 2002 ; Camic et al , 2013 ; Dowlen, 2018 ).…”

Music Stimulation as a Method of Optimizing Autobiographical Memory in Patients Diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease

“…Due to the evocative power of music, it can play a fundamental role in helping adults with Alzheimer's reinforce their identity and ability to experience emotions since it allows them to reexamine their past, present, and future [34]. In this way, music therapy can help patients remember the roles they play in their lives and improve their relationships with those closest to them [35]. A study carried out by Otera et al [34] determined that music has the ability to function as a common language between the patient and their family member, overcoming communication barriers, allowing for a stronger bond and union, and maintaining relationships between caregivers and patients.…”