Different, not less: New art therapy for people with memory loss. V1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Different, not less: New art therapy for people living with memory loss.
IRAS ID
312319
Contact name
Samantha Harrold
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Sussex
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 1 months, 26 days
Research summary
Summary of Research
The aim of this study is to develop a new kind of art therapy that will help people living with memory loss to connect with their loved ones. Research shows that the aim of the existing therapeutic and literary field for people living with memory loss focuses on re-establishing a pre-dementia identity, the catalyst for which was Oliver Sack's The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (1986) and his work on musicology that followed. My therapy will be different because the aim of it will be to help people living with memory loss to make new and meaningful connections with their loved ones, without having to look to the past. The ethos of the study and the resulting therapy model is that an identity changed by memory loss is different, not less.I will work with ten participants who are living with memory loss, their carers and care staff. Participants living with memory loss will be asked to participate in four sessions lasting no longer than one hour each. Participants who are carers and care-workers will be asked to participate in two-three sessions lasting no longer than one hour each. There will be no more than thirty participants in total. During these sessions I will use semi-structured narrative and episodic interviews and musical engagement in order to generate narrative data suitable for interpretative phenomenological analysis that will inform the development of the therapy model. Some speech fragments from the interviews and observations will also be used in musical compositions, which will feature in my PhD thesis.
Summary of Results
Achievement of Objectives
The primary research objective was to gather sufficient data to find whether it is possible to create art therapy that allows people living with memory loss to make new and meaningful connections with their loved ones. The data set that I collected during the study is more than sufficient for the development of the art therapy that I am designing as one of several practical outcomes of my research.Summary of Main Findings
1. I found that it is possible to create art therapy that allows people living with memory loss to make new and meaningful connections with their loved ones.
2. I found that a way to encourage an enjoyable reading experience for people who are living with memory loss is for them to read stories with captivating plots and definitive endings that are 200 words or less.
3. I found that, as hearing changes with memory loss, so does the perception of music. Sometimes, particularly for people who have been musicians, this can mean that listening to music can be unpleasant.
4. I found that both the nursing home environment and the memory loss experience are uncanny.Arrangements for publication/dissemination of results, including feedback to participants
1. I was awarded the Adam Weiler Doctoral Impact Award for my research, for which I won £1000 to spend on making an impact. With the money, I am publishing a small book of very short stories, (for which I am currently running a competition), that will fit the criteria in point 2, above.
2. Once I have completed and submitted my thesis, (approx. May 2024), I will create a poster of my findings, which I will share with the nursing home. I shall also provide them with several copies of my book, free of charge.REC name
Wales REC 2
REC reference
22/WA/0206
Date of REC Opinion
17 Aug 2022
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion