This project aims to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of a 12-week music therapy programme in care homes for residents with cognitive impairment and care home staff using a non-randomised control design. Music therapy is widely recognised as beneficial for people living with dementia. However, little is known about its overall impact on quality of care in care homes.~Research questions:~Can a music therapy intervention improve quality of care in care homes?~What are the effects of music therapy on residents with cognitive impairment and care home staff?~Is the implementation of a music therapy programme feasible?~For the treatment of symptoms of dementia, is music therapy a cost-effective treatment in care homes?~Intervention:~The team will invite a total of 84 participants from 12 care homes located across the North and South of England to take part in the study. This includes 48 participants with cognitive impairment and 36 care home staff. The team will recruit a qualified music therapist in each region to work within the care home to deliver the music therapy intervention.~Residents with cognitive impairment will be invited to receive twenty 30-minute individual music therapy sessions across 12 weeks. The therapy will be video recorded for training purposes. Therapists will work with the residents to learn about their needs and tailor a suitable treatment approach. They will enable a meaningful, engaging therapeutic relationship to improve the health and wellbeing of residents. The sessions will focus on targeting specific behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia by providing cognitive stimulation, communicative support and social connectedness.~Within the 12-week programme, care home staff will be invited to collectively receive music therapy training on four occasions during week 3, 6, 9 and 12. Each music therapist will demonstrate significant moments of their sessions to staff via short video clips from a music therapy session (Hsu et al. 2015). They will provide clinical explanations to staff about the techniques they have used and why they are effective for the individuals with cognitive impairment.~Data collection:~The team will be collecting a range of qualitative and quantitative data. The researchers will use an integrated evaluative approach focussing on clinical and organisational outcomes to examine the research questions. As part of the non-randomised control design, six of the care homes will receive music therapy first. There will be 42 participants in this group (24 with cognitive impairment, 18 care home staff). Subsequently, the remaining six care homes will then receive music therapy, with the same amount and ratio of participants. Pre data collection will take place in all care homes prior to the study and post data collection will take place once music therapy has ended in the first six care homes. This forms the control trial to compare music therapy to traditional care.~Implications:~The study has the potential to improve the lives of care home residents with cognitive impairment. It also has the potential to improve the work life of care home staff and generate better quality of care. Staff will be provided with the tools and understanding of music therapy techniques, so that the potential effects can be sustainable. Standardised protocols are needed to learn about how researchers and practitioners can work with the social care sector to implement an effective music therapy programme (Moreno-Morales et al. 2020). The evaluation of this study will be used to develop a model of 'music therapy programmes in care homes.' The study findings will provide valuable insights into how to transform the social care sector through psychosocial, non-pharmacological intervention at micro and macro level.~.
The purpose of this study is to implement and evaluate a music therapy intervention in care homes. The primary aim is to assess whether implementing the intervention will have an impact on quality of care in care homes. Researchers will also examine the feasibility of a music therapy programme in care homes and its effects on care staff and residents with cognitive impairment.