Exploring the benefits and uses of musical experiences in the context of dementia care

By the time the average reader reaches the References section of this paper, statistics from the Alzheimer’s Society (UK) suggest that an additional 187 people, worldwide, will have been diagnosed as having some form of dementia. A combination of the rising costs of dementia care and increasing evidence that costly medical interventions seem to provide a relatively limited number of benefits, has generated a corresponding interest in a wide range of nonpharmacological interventions for those with dementia. In this paper, we present a summary of the initial findings from an on-going comparative study carried out in Japan and England. Our research design involved a series of interviews and structured observations carried out with participants, nursing staff and family members, all of whom attended a series of music concerts in Japan and England. Our initial findings suggest that musical experiences can produce significant benefits for those people living with dementia and all those involved in their care.