From the Editor: Music and movement strike a chord with care home residents
The Care Home Environment Magazine
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This week, a pilot study by the University of Stirling has confirmed that music and movement have a positive impact on the health and wellbeing of care home residents.
The study, conducted by the Faculty of Health Sciences and Sport, in partnership with wellbeing, arts, and fitness company danceSing , followed 47 residents from 10 BCG Cares homes across Scotland over a period of 12 weeks.
Residents and caregivers enjoyed digital music and movement resources created by danceSing in consultation with NHS healthcare professionals.
Over the study period, residents joined online sessions four times per week, where they were encouraged to take part in a variety of fun and meaningful activities including everything from chair and standing fitness, music and singing, bespoke Memory Lane radio shows, and musical concerts.
Academics looked at a number of aspects of participants’ health and wellbeing, spanning anxiety and depression, stress and loneliness, sleep satisfaction, and indications of frailty such as appetite and unintentional weight loss. The study showed improvements in a number of areas.
BCG Cares reported that the collective mood of the residents was visibly improved during the sessions. Even those participants who were demotivated at the beginning were visibly happier by the end of the session, or those not actively taking part still enjoyed the benefits of being present while the session took place.
The study identified challenges to delivering the programme, such as staff time and availability of suitable technology, so solutions to these can be incorporated into any future activity.
Care home staff also benefited from the injection of music and movement into their weekly routine, with team members reporting improved mood, physical health and job satisfaction. The programme encouraged increased interaction between staff and residents. Residents living with dementia were also noted as being “calm”, “content” and in a “happy place”, which in turn had a positive impact on staff wellbeing.
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Anna Whittaker , study lead from the University’s Faculty of Health Sciences and Sport said: “The early results of the study are extremely promising in terms of the positive impact that music and movement can have on care home residents and staff alike. Giving residents something to look forward to and a chance to engage with one another has visibly improved their quality of life, which is exactly what we were hoping for. Such good results at this stage are really promising for the future, and we hope this type of programme could be implemented in care homes across the country before too long. We did also identify some challenges to delivering the programme in care homes which we will address in our future research.”
The success of the study highlights the possibility of similar activities being adapted and rolled out across the country in the future, with further studies underway and in planning.
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