LEISURE AND ENTERTAINMENT The Power of Music
Daniel Thomas, Managing Director at Chroma, highlights the beneficial effects of music therapy in residential care settings.
The pandemic has seen music therapy gain further prominence in the care home sector as care providers recognise the value of all three of the arts therapies as a way to promote togetherness, bonding and relieve stress,
as well as bringing a sense of hope and community within each home. The media has clearly shown how dementia patients are brought ‘back to life’ with a familiar song from their younger years.
At Chroma, we specialise in delivering Music Therapy, Neurologic Music Therapy (NMT), Arts Therapy and Dramatherapy, and have seen an increase in demand for our services recently.
We have just started a pilot project at the Sue Ryder Neurological Care Centre, for people living with neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s and multiple sclerosis, as well as those with acquired brain injuries.
The project aims to build upon clinical/patient successes achieved by Chroma in other similar settings, including Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust and with private healthcare providers HCA Healthcare UK and Voyage Care.
Past projects like these enabled residents to get involved in using a range of musical instruments, singing and song-writing to develop both communication and physical abilities in open group sessions and also one-to-one sessions.
Delivering music therapy within residential settings is enhancing residents’ quality of life and their capabilities, as well as enriching lives by reducing stress, inspiring reminiscence, increasing communication, social activity and movement, as well as improving cognitive skills. This is essential in instilling a sense of identity and positive memories.
The management of symptoms of dementia such as agitation, apathy, anxiety and depression are a major therapeutic task in dementia care and the use of music therapy to calm residents is hugely beneficial to make the job of care staff less difficult.
With extensive knowledge surrounding the complex brain- music connections, music therapists are able to provide care workers with strategies to better manage care home residents’ symptoms, based on their understanding of a person’s cognitive and sensory function. It is important to empower caregivers, as the use of music therapeutic caregiving, which involves singing while providing care, has been shown to evoke positive emotions, reduce aggression, and create a sense of mutuality.
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Music therapy can be implemented anywhere and at any time, and caregivers are just as an important part of providing music therapy in everyday settings, such as during personal care, as the delivery of structured music therapy sessions.
Its holistic approach allows for the therapy to pair well alongside other members of the multi-disciplinary team, such as speech therapy and occupational therapy, enabling a ‘joined-up’ approach to care, based on the needs of the individual.
Music therapy sessions present the opportunity to further assess care home residents who have difficulty with things such as eating, drinking or swallowing; providing additional advice and support to help manage these problems.
As a therapy, music has been a misunderstood aspect of residential care but is about far more than playing music to residents.
Patients benefit from music therapy for three key reasons: as a non-drug therapy, it causes no adverse side effects and, most significantly, can address a person’s psychological, social and emotional needs.
Also, as music therapy can be implemented anytime, anywhere- whether singing during personal care, music listening during lunchtime or moving to music whilst exercising- it can relax, stimulate and provide pleasure and comfort.
Various studies have demonstrated the benefits music therapy in residential settings. For example, when assessing the effectiveness of music therapy sessions within care homes, researchers found that they are beneficial to elderly care home residents, as it can help reduce depression symptoms in dementia residents while enhancing residents’ overall wellbeing and mental health.
Another study compared the short-term effects of a music therapy-singing group with those of a music medicine- listening group and a control-TV group, on the quality of life of persons with dementia at a long-term care facility. The music therapy-singing group was facilitated by a music therapist, whereas the music medicine-listening and the control TV group were led by nursing home activity staff. 52 participants, whose ages ranged from 67 to 99 years old, were randomly assigned to one of the three groups, and 37 participants completed the interventions. The participants in each group were engaged for a 40-minute session twice a week for four consecutive weeks.
Quality of life was measured at the baseline and aſter the last session and only the music therapy-singing group demonstrated significant improvements when compared to
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