Music & Dementia Care - Assignment Example

Music & Dementia Care Introduction There is evidence that music can be particularly therapeutic for patients suffering from dementia and may have ‘remarkable effects’ on ‘emotional, cognitive, and social skills’ (Götell, Brown & Ekman, 2002, p196). Two papers, Caregiver Singing and Background Music in Dementia Care and Finding the key to communion - Caregivers' experience of 'music therapeutic caregiving' in dementia care: A qualitative analysisprovide qualitative information from caregivers about their experiences caring for dementia patients and the relationship this has with music. The first paper by Götell, Brown & Ekman (2002) covers how caregiver singing and background music affected the verbal communications between the caregiver and the dementia patient in a urban area of Sweden. The second paper, by Hammar, Emami, Engström&Götell (2011), focuses purely on music therapeutic caregiving (MTC) and the experiences that caregivers had when considering the effect of MTC on patients with dementia. Evaluation One of the major similarities between the two pieces of research is that they are qualitative in nature, and thus gather information designed to provide an in-depth look at human behaviour (Merriam, 2009). Many of the strengths and weaknesses of the two papers is linked to this type of data-gathering. One issue with which qualitative research struggles is that it can be difficult and expensive to involve a lot of participants, and this research is no different; Götell, Brown & Ekman (2002) focused on nine individuals whilst Hammar (2011) focused on six. This can make the results hard to generalise to the wider population, and additionally makes the results more prone to various types of bias (Merriam, 2009). However, as the aim of the research was to uncover more detail about the relationship between music-related caregiving and dementia patients, this type of result is much more informative. Götell, Brown & Ekman (2002) collected their data in two main ways. Firstly, the morning routine of the dementia patients was recorded (6-22 minutes). Following this, the caregiver was interviewed about how the morning session had gone. Later in the day, the caregiver and the researchers would look back over the video recording of the session to allow the caregiver to give further comment on the morning routine. Using this methodology is useful because it allows the caregiver to incorporate emotions and feelings that were felt immediately after the event and logical thoughts that occurred after a period time into their responses, giving a fuller account of the effect of music on caregiving. Hammar et al (2011) used the method of group interviews, a total of four interviews lasting an hour each. These group sessions were unstructured, although there were specific open-ended questions asked. This type of data collection method is often used in qualitative research (Merriam, 2009), but may not be that useful as there may be pressure coming from the group to answer questions in a certain way. Additionally, some participants may not voice their opinions as strongly as others. Another difference between the two studies is the type of music caregiving that was being investigated. Those in the Hammar et al (2011) study had either taken a course in MTC or had been instructed on how to properly deliver MTC from a trained author. This meant that their interactions with the patients was likely to be more structured and based around previous research than those in the Götell, Brown & Ekman (2002) study. Without directly comparing the two groups, it is difficult to say whether this had a significant effect on the cognitive and emotional abilities of the patients. Both studies made a special effort to use music that was likely to be recognized by the patients, who were all elderly in both pieces of research. In this case, the majority of the music played was popular music from the 1920s to 1960s, although Hammar et al (2011) incorporated some children’s songs into the caregiving. Both studies stressed the importance of using appropriate music that can be recognized for optimum results in music caregiving. Götell, Brown & Ekman (2002) had an interesting set of results. In the presence of background music or singing from the caregiver, both verbal communication and interpersonal interaction decreased in quantity. However, the actual understanding (and thus the patient’s cognitive and emotional ability by inference) of the patient appeared to increase. This result was particularly strong during the singing condition, suggesting that there may be a significant role for the human voice in dementia care. Hammar et al (2011) presented results based upon the ‘normal’ morning-care routine and the MTC-based morning-care routine to allow for a direct comparison of the results. It was felt that without MTC, there was a lack of communication between the patients and the caregivers which hampered the ability of the caregiver to administer the care that the patient required. Another theme of this condition was that there is a physical and mental struggle with aggression from the patients. However, in the MTC condition, two main themes were identified; awakening cooperation and a feeling of well-being. Interestingly, both pieces of research found that caregivers noticed a significant difference in the behaviour of the dementia patients when care was administered in the presence of music. This aligns with results from previous research that is outlined at the onset of both articles. Hammar et al (2011) focused more on comparing the situations with and without MTC, and found that the aggression and resistance normally associated with the morning-care routine was much less in the eyes of the caregiver when administered with MTC. In contrast, Götell, Brown & Ekman (2002) focused more on the use of background music and singing. Perhaps the most interesting finding from this piece of research is that the singing had a stronger effect than music, and the conclusion drawn that individualized singing may be the key to good dementia care. Conclusions Overall, there were a number of similarities and differences between the two papers, although many of the similarities were due to the fact that both were collecting qualitative data based on interviews with dementia caregivers. The differences were subtle, but made a difference to the conclusions drawn. Hammar et al (2011) found that there was a huge improvement in the behaviours of the patients when morning-care was delivered with music, whilst Götell, Brown & Ekman (2002) found that singing may be more effective than music in this type of care. References Götell, E., Brown, S., & Ekman, S. L. (2002). Caregiver singing and background music in dementia care.Western Journal of Nursing Research, 24(2), 195–216. Hammar, L. M., Emami, A., Engström, G., &Götell, E. (2011). Finding the key to communion-Caregivers’ experience of “music therapeutic caregiving”in dementia care: A qualitative analysis. Dementia, 10(1), 98–111. Merriam, S. B. (2009). Qualitative Research: A Guide to Design and Implementation. John Wiley & Sons. Read More