Musical project in Spanish care home

doi:10.15406/mojgg.2024.09.00321

MOJ

eISSN: 2574-8130

Gerontology & Geriatrics

Short Communication Volume 9 Issue 1

Musical project in Spanish care home

Ana M Vernia Carrasco

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Jaime I University, Spain

Correspondence: Ana M Vernia Carrasco, Education and specifics didactics, Jaime I University, Spain, Tel 616200681, Email vernia@uji.es

Received: March 19, 2024 | Published: April 10, 2024

Citation: Carrasco AMV. Musical project in Spanish care home. MOJ Gerontol Ger. 2024;9(1):21‒22. DOI: 10.15406/mojgg.2024.09.00321

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Abstract

The musicall project is an initiative that shares research personnel in the field of music with the collaboration of the psychology branch. It will be developed in a senior center in Betxí, with the agreement of the government of the Valencian community regarding senior citizens and the collaboration of the management of the center where the project will be implemented. Active music will be used to generally improve the quality of life of participants, family members, caregivers and employees. All of this will take place in 14 sessions, which will end in June 2024, where participants will receive a series of activities related to different musical competitions simultaneously.

Keywords improve the quality of life, potential benefits, musicall psychology

Introduction

The project, which consists of applying active musical practice to older people, will be developed in the facilities of the Betxí Day Center belonging to the IVASS (Spain). This is a research project, highlighting the potential of Active Music programs in people of all ages, but especially in older people. It is expected to show the first results very soon and replicate the project in other day centers in the Valencian Community.

Theoretical framework

Dementia is an increasingly common syndrome and, if pharmacotherapy is available, its potential benefit is limited, especially in non-cognitive outcomes. Authors such as Lam et al.¹ensure that non-pharmacological therapy, such as music therapy, is potentially associated with better outcomes, evaluating the effects of music in patients with dementia to assess its potential benefits on dementia. Among the results, previous authors highlight significant improvements in verbal fluency after music therapy, with significant reductions in anxiety, depression, and apathy. Furthermore, they did not observe improvements in cognition.

A relevant work was that of Dorris et at.,²which examined randomized controlled trials with active music-making interventions, in which older adults with probable mild cognitive impairment or dementia participated essentially in music, and its effects on cognitive functioning, emotional well-being and participation social. This study highlighted that participating in music creation is attractive and has demonstrated various benefits. In addition, the review categorized the musical activities of each intervention.

Among the conclusions of this research, it was highlighted that active musical creation has a small but statistically significant effect on the cognitive functioning of older adults with probable mild cognitive impairment or dementia. Active music creation has proven to be an effective intervention. Finally. Developing more interventions with these activities and offering these programs widely could provide millions of people with critical support for their cognitive, emotional and social well-being.

Vernia-Carrasco,³also points out the importance of social conditions and health care to influence the improvement of quality of life, taking music as a tool to improve people's lives. There is growing research evidence in diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and brain stroke where music can help. Projects such as Music for Life, this author points out, are based on the hypothesis that singing in a choir can help prevent or delay neurodegenerative diseases in adults and older people, pointing out musical activities such as musical composition or creation, improvisation, body percussion.

Methodology

The qualitative methodology has been chosen within the interpretive description. The foundation is, according to Thompson Burdine et al.,⁴in that qualitative research approaches are increasingly integrated into medical education research to answer relevant questions that quantitative methodologies cannot address. Researchers have found that traditional qualitative methodological approaches reflect the foundations and objectives of disciplines whose objectives are recognizably different from the research domain of medical education. In this sense, interpretive description (ID), as a widely used qualitative research method in nursing, offers an accessible and theoretically flexible approach to analyzing qualitative data within medical education research. This format can be perfectly adapted to our case study, since it is understood, as these authors indicate, that it will allow the advancement of knowledge related to the educational experience without sacrificing the methodological integrity of qualitative approaches.

There will be 14 sessions of one and a half hours, where the active musical program will be applied, adapted to the profile of older people, between 65 and 98 years of age.

The activities carried out involve different simultaneous musical competitions:

Vocal competence

Rhythmic competition

Instrumental competence

Competence in body expression

Listening competence

Musicological competition

Tools

Questionnaire to assess quality of life and mental health.

Interviews with participants, family members and workers at the center where the project is developed.

Expected results

Among the expected results, the improvement in quality of life and mental health stands out. The improvement of psychomotor skills, memory and the reduction of medications. This will have an economic impact. Besides. It is also expected to improve the health of employees, family members and caregivers.

Conclusion

Although we still do not have results, the first evidence indicates that important benefits will be achieved for all the people involved, especially for the participants. However, it is considered that research in non-invasive therapies such as active musical practice, beyond music therapy, needs more resources to continue researching. Music is an important tool for quality of life, where dementia, cognitive impairment or mental health still does not have a firm solution, music is a resource that helps people who suffer from it, In this sense.