Benefits of personalised music in dementia - a feasibility study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Generating and using personalised music playlists to improve behavioural and psychological symptoms in people with dementia: a feasibility study
IRAS ID
265263
Contact name
Dimana Georgieva
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Music for my Mind
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 1 months, 31 days
Research summary
There is growing evidence for the benefits of music for individuals living with dementia but there has been limited research looking specifically at personalised music. Methodologies have not yet been developed to generate and play personalised music playlists quickly and cost effectively. We propose a feasibility study to develop effective methodologies for:
i. efficient creation and delivery of personalised playlists for people with mild to moderate dementia in care homes; and
ii. assessing their responses to this music.A long-list of personalised music (about 100 tracks) will be created by asking residents and their carers about the resident’s musical tastes and background (particularly from their teenage years). A refined personalised playlist (of 10-20 tracks) will be created by playing excerpts from these tracks to the resident and gauging their responses including through direct feedback from the resident and their carer(s) plus observations of changes in facial expression, together with directly observed movements of hands, feet and/ or head, and changes in pulse rate (a monitor worn on the wrist to measure movement and pulse and we will ask to film sessions). Care home staff and informal carers will use these playlists within the residents’ care and we will use feedback from residents and carers to assess responses and explore whether factors such as the timing of listening or delivery methodology appear to affect the resident’s well-being over time. The findings from this study will be used to develop automated approaches to playlist creation (e.g. an App) and to inform, subject to subsequent ethical approval, further feasibility studies to: test and refine methodologies for use with participants with more advanced dementia; and explore more systematically the benefits of personalised music and factors that affect this, ultimately to inform the design of a subsequent larger scale intervention study.
REC name
London - Camberwell St Giles Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/LO/1032
Date of REC Opinion
1 Oct 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion