Dementia Support Line
Understanding music: Developing practice and resourcing care
Music can have an amazing impact on people with dementia. Find out about our research to help people with dementia engage with music.
Lead investigator: Jane Bentley
- Institution: Trinity College Dublin
- Duration: 12 months
- Amount: £19,000
Project summary
To create an educational resource (for arts practitioners/facilitators) that addresses the need to provide people with dementia with the best forms of musical engagement, personalised to their abilities and tastes.
This resource will accompany launch and training events and improve quality and accessibility of musical engagement in dementia care.
What do we know already?
The recent International Longevity Commission report on music and dementia highlighted the benefits of music therapy in potentially aiding the management of dementia related symptoms and improving quality of life of people living with dementia and carers.
However, the report also highlights that high-quality musical interventions are only available in five per cent of care homes and there is no clear information on community activities. The report calls for a public facing training tool to support the delivery of musical interventions that are tailored to the individual.
What does the project involve?
Jane will host three two-day pilot launch events around Scotland for the purposes of both training and dissemination. Each event will involve one and a half days of introductory musical training for musicians interested in engaging people with dementia. The remaining half day will be dedicated to training and networking for both care staff and musicians.
These pilot events will also test the potential to adapt the training toolkit as a resource for other countries and cultures.
How will this project help people with dementia?
The resource along with accompanying training and dissemination events will provide care practitioners with more information about the full potential of musical activity and how to access it.
In addition, this work will provide musicians with specialised training to enable them to work with care practitioners in engaging people with dementia in musical activities. The long-term goal will be to make this toolkit available for adaption as a worldwide resource.