Music is becoming more popular in dementia care as a tool for engaging clients in meaningful occupation but also as a method of utilising what memory one has left. Music is great with clients who experience some level of dementia because long term memory is genrally still available. Music can be used as an indivdual tool or part of group therapy.
Music for dementia could include:
- Listening to the radio
- Listening to records/CD's/MP3
- Talking about music
- Singing
- Using music as a distraction for those who are angry or upset
- Music to enhance exercise
- Playing instruments
- Dancing
Benefits of music could include improved:
- Quality of life
- Self esteem and decreasing depression
- Decreasing aggression and stress
- Decreasing wandering
- Mobility
- Socialisation and communication
- Identity
- Happiness
- Awareness
- Decision making
Cuing is used in retrieval of past preferences of music tastes. This can be done by verbal or auditory cues. Other cues could include objects that relate to a favorite songs title or lyrics. For example, seeing a picture of a road drifting in to the sunset could be a cue to the song "country roads" by John Denver.
There are some important aspects to consider when choosing music as an intervention tool:
- The activity needs to be modified for the client to gain some level of success
- Importance of finding the specific songs that were special to your client to gain their interest and attention.
- Expression of self: music is a great means of putting emotions into sound or lyrics if one cant do this verbally.
- Level of dementia
- Age
- Language/visual/auditory deficits
- Neurological deficits
Oliver Sacks, a well known neurologist, psychologist and writer published an article in Oprah's magazine titled "wired for sound". Here Sacks talks about music and how even in the most severe forms of dementia and memory loss, music, is one of the last remaining memory's to disappear. The article provides a real example of a man called Woody who struggles with everyday ADL's and expresses how music can improve ones performance and happiness.
Wired for sound
Below are some YouTube videos that you can watch if you choose to. The first one is about a man called Henry who is often non-responsive and once music is in the picture he almost comes alive, starts singing, swaying and engages in conversation. The next video is Oliver Sacks talking about music and Alzheimer's.
References:
Bright, R. (1997). Music Therapy and the Dementias: Improving the quality of life (2nd ed). United States of America: Walsworth Publishing. Knopfgroup.
“Oliver Sacks - Musicophilia - Alzheimer's/The Power of Music." YouTube. YouTube, 22 Sept. 2008. Web. 22 July 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdYplKQ4JBc>. MusicandMemory1.
"(original) Man In Nursing Home Reacts To Hearing Music From His Era." YouTube. YouTube, 18 Nov. 2011. Web. 22 July 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyZQf0p73QM>.
Nordoff Robbins. (2011). Dementia and difficulties for the elderly. Retrieved from http://www.nordoff-robbins.org.uk/content/what-we-do/who-can-music-help/dementia-and-difficulties-elderly
Oprah. (2008). Wired for sound. Retrieved from http://www.oprah.com/health/Oliver-Sacks-Finds-the-Bond-Between-Music-and-Our-Brains/1
Hi Matt
ReplyDeletejust a wee question.Can yo clear up one question for me.
Do you see your role differently as an OT using music as an intervention tool to a music therapist?.
cheers David
Hi David
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. The roles do blur a lot. Music therapists (MT) obviously just use music as a means of assessment and intervention. Occupational Therapists (OT) however dont use music as a standardised assessment, however possibly as a non-standardised/observational assessment e.g. level of engagement, attention span etc. OT's use music as a form of intervention either, a) if the client states this is a meaningful occupation and wants to pursue it or, b) music is used as a general activity group for clients in an in-patient setting.
Cheers Matt
Cheers Matt
DeleteYeah the other point is that you may be working with the client on a number of interventions that don,t include music.
Have you looked into the use of music therapeutically in gardens and outside environments.It is used in some gardens designed for people living with dementia.
David
Hi David
DeleteYeah! as our profession is based on occupations our interventions are near endless, however as a music therapist they are limited to only using music!
It never really crossed my mind about using music in an outside setting, I could see the therapeutic effect of being in a location meaninful to the client. The idea of sitting by a lake under the mountains with a guitar is pretty appetizing to me. I would be interested to hear about the use of music in a garden setting with clients experiencing dementia.
Cheers Matt
Great blog Matt - nice balance of pictures and text. I'd like to see practical advice about how an OT could use music as part of an intervention, for example I worked with a client who was really shy and didn't like to talk at all - quite happy to sit in silence for 40 minutes. I decided that in our art sessions, music might be nice (for me, the silence was a challenge!!!) and she agreed. I asked her what radio station we should pick and her whole face lit up. It started a conversation that didn't stop the whole session, and we also were able to have therapeutic conversations about some of the song themes, so it wasn't just all listening to the radio and having fun! I'd like to see you explore how the experience of music can facilitate OT interventions.
ReplyDeletehi Matt the little i can tell you about using music with dementia in gardens is the importance of finding music that was important to the person during their life ,which can help with focusing and motivation.This is used as a powerful sense in specific dementia gardens.
ReplyDeletecheers David
Good work Matt!, I'd like to work with people with dementia in the future and I'd LOVE to learn to play music! Maybe knowing I could use in in practise will motivate me!
ReplyDelete