Model of learning for practitioners in dementia care with music therapy as the joint focal point

Abstract to the 21st Nordic Congress of Gerontology in June 10th - 13th, 2012

Title
Model of learning for practitioners in dementia care with music therapy as the joint focal point

The project is a PhD research in progress, which aims to develop a model of learning for practitioners in dementia care, which has music therapy as the joint focal point and focus on the relational meeting.Through development of a cross-disciplinary cooperation between the music therapist and the care providers in connection with a course of music therapy, will following areas be elucidated: How can the musical and interpersonal competencies of the individual care provider be developed with the purpose to effect the relational meeting with persons suffering from dementia, in a way that the care provider is able to develop and transfer new knowledge and acquired skills to the daily nursing and care through the application of tangible tools from the musical activities? And further: What impact does the emphasis on development of the care provider’s musical and interpersonal competencies have on quality of life and well-being among persons suffering from dementia?
The model of learning includes using the Dementia Care Mapping Method and the theoretical frame of reference for the project; for example Daniel Stern's theory of senses of self, forms of vitality, the present moment, Barry Reisbergs research on retrogenesis and the recent research on mirror neurons. Methodically the project is organized as a case study of a music therapy course in which includes process data, outcome data and follow-up data that assess the effect of the course in connection with the effect of the learning process of the practitioners. Four persons suffering from dementia living in a care facility and four care providers are included.
Preliminary results indicate that the care providers are able to develop and transfer new knowledge and acquired skills to the daily nursing and care through the application of tangible tools from the musical activities, which has an effect on quality of life and wellbeing for persons suffering from dementia.