Activities


as they can understand the needs of the person with dementia better.


Raising awareness


There are several drugs that can help address certain symptoms in people with a diagnosis of dementia, but they are not a cure and do not stop the disease from progressing.


Music therapy is a non-drug treatment with no negative side effects. It has been proven to work and alleviate the symptoms of dementia. When verbal intervention starts to fail, and residents remain either agitated or despondent, music therapy can be used to encourage them to engage and relax. The alternative is to use psychotropic drugs, many of which have life inhibiting side effects, such as hypertension and stroke. People living with dementia can often feel hopeless, as if they have lost their sense of purpose and are now a burden, which can lead to depression. However, music therapy can instil a sense of accomplishment as the person living with dementia can achieve something in each session. The added benefit is that if someone is physiologically in a good place, it makes any long term condition easier to bear. If a person with dementia


Stimulating minds


Music therapy gives people living with dementia a chance to express themselves, to communicate without needing to find the right words. Music has permeated throughout all MHA services since it was established over 70 years ago. For many years, self employed music therapists provided occasional group music sessions, but in 2007 the first full time therapists were recruited.


A preliminary research study using dementia care mapping techniques and video analysis demonstrated that music therapy within the homes brings positive improvements to residents with dementia. MHA has now developed a national programme and has recruited a team of nine experienced music therapists to deliver weekly one to one therapy sessions to residents with dementia and to lead group activities within its specialised dementia care homes.


Making music


In July 2016, memories of past years became songs for now thanks to a project called ‘Sing Your Life’ at Kenbrook Care Home in Wembley.


Older people’s choir Bolder Voices and three musicians worked with residents over a number of weeks to record their recollections of their earlier lives and turn them into songs. While this was not a music therapy session, it certainly engaged the residents and staff.


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Clair Chapwell, who runs Bolder Voices, sat down with residents to record their memories, including those of working and living in London and moving to the city from Ireland. These were then turned into songs that were rehearsed ready for a performance in front of guests including the Mayor of Brent, Councillor Parvez Ahmed. Home manager, Marian O’Hara,


said: “We were very fortunate to have Bolder Voices perform a concert at Kenbrook as well as carry out weekly sessions over a six week period with our residents.


“These sessions had a great impact on our residents who enjoyed these groups immensely; having personalised songs written all about them made them feel really special and unique.” Clair Chapwell said: “Over the weeks, we began to see residents flourishing as songs were created and rehearsed. Mornings we listened to residents’ stories, afternoons we sang. During the week, musician Bob and I wrote songs from the stories we heard, culminating in six original songs for the performance.”


Sing Your Life was a partnership between Bolder Voices and Capital Age Arts. It was funded by the Arts Council and Greater London Authority.


To find out more about the impact life changing music therapy can have on care home residents go to: www.mha.org.uk/stimulatingminds


www.thecarehomeenvironment .com • May 2017 Conclusion


The late stages of dementia are often the most difficult to manage as families try to cope with the fact that they are slowly losing their loved one, who may no longer be the person they once were. Music therapy can offer some relief and joy, as it has been shown to work even at these later stages. Playing a favourite song may still lead a person in the final stages of dementia to tap a finger or blink an eye, showing that they are still experiencing positive benefits.


has high self esteem and self confidence, then some of the symptoms of dementia can be reduced.


TCHE


References 1 Alzheimer’s Society. Over half of people fear dementia diagnosis, 62 per cent think it means ‘life is over'. [www.alzheimers.org.uk].


2 Office for National Statistics. Deaths Registered in England and Wales (Series DR). London: ONS, 2015.


3 Hsu MH, Flowerdew R et al. Individual music therapy for managing neuropsychiatric symptoms for people with dementia and their carers: a cluster randomised controlled feasibility study. BMC Geriatrics 2015; 15 (1): 1.


Ming Hung Hsu


Ming Hung Hsu is chief music therapist for MHA. He qualified from Anglia Ruskin University in 2007 and is currently a PhD candidate in music therapy at the same university. His research interests focus on day to day emotion regulation techniques for managing neuropsychiatric symptoms in dementia care settings. The mission of the MHA is to raise awareness of music therapy and to raise funds to hire more therapists.


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