“Doing Things Together Is What It’s About”: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of the Experience of Group Therapeutic Songwriting From the Perspectives of People With Dementia and Their Family Caregivers

Abstract

BackgroundThe wellbeing of people living with dementia and their family caregivers may be impacted by stigma, changing roles, and limited access to meaningful opportunities as a dyad. Group therapeutic songwriting (TSW) and qualitative interviews have been utilized in music therapy research to promote the voices of people with dementia and family caregivers participating in separate songwriting groups but not together as dyads.ProceduresThis study aimed to explore how ten people with dementia/family caregiver dyads experienced a 6-week group TSW program. Dyads participated in homogenous TSW groups involving 2–4 dyads who were either living together in the community (2 spousal groups) or living separately because the person with dementia resided in a care home (1 family group, 1 spousal group). The TSW program, informed by personhood, couplehood, family centered and group process frameworks, involved creating original lyrics through song parody and song collage. Qualified Music Therapists facilitated sessions and interviewed each dyad separately. Interviews were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis.FindingsFive recurrent group themes were developed, indicating group TSW: (1) was a positive shared experience, benefiting both members of the dyad and motivating further engagement with music; (2) stimulated mental processes and reignited participants’ interests and skills; (3) provided meaningful opportunities for reflection and connection with memories and life experiences; and (4) prompted interaction and collaboration, leading to social connections, empathic relationships and experiences of inclusion. Participants also highlighted how: (5) the facilitated process supported engagement, highlighting abilities and challenging doubts.ConclusionDyads identified group TSW as an opportunity to recognize strengths, voice ideas and opinions, share meaningful experiences, and do “more with music.” Participants valued TSW as a new, creative and stimulating experience that enabled connection with self and others and led to feelings of pride and achievement. Our findings further recognize how therapeutic intention and approach were reflected in participants’ engagement and responses regardless of dementia stage and type, dyad relationship, or musical background. This research may broaden perspectives and expand understanding about how people with dementia and their family caregivers access and engage in music therapy.

The Influence of Home-Based Music Therapy Interventions on Relationship Quality in Couples Living with Dementia—An Adapted Convergent Mixed Methods Study

“…Still, an ambiguity is shown, in the themes of “Risks of distance” and “Relationship vulnerabilities”. While the positive influences resemble those found in previous studies [ 24 , 25 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 ] the ambiguity and complexity found in the present study seem not to be evident in previous research. Further, it may not be possible to capture such complexity via a quantitative measurement scale, such as the QCPR.…”

“…While previous studies show mainly positive influences on relationship quality of music therapy interventions [ 24 , 25 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 ] the identification of negative influences in the present study adds a new perspective to the subject. It shows the crucial need for professionalism and reflexivity of the music therapist in the clinical setting, both during training sessions and in follow-up contact, as the couples may need counselling and further guidance when experiencing the ambiguous influences of their shared music experiences.…”

“…Research shows how music therapy and engagement in music activities support people with dementia to maintain and improve social engagement in close relationships and with their local community [ 21 , 22 , 23 ]. Shared music experiences between couples have been shown to be beneficial for quality of life and well-being, mood, and communication within home-based settings [ 24 , 25 , 26 ], institutional settings [ 27 ], and community group therapy settings [ 28 , 29 , 30 ]. Relationship quality is thematised and discussed in all these studies, though not necessarily as the primary outcome.…”

The experiences of people living with dementia and their care partners participating in an online therapeutic songwriting program

“…The online context overcame geographical barriers, enabling duos from remote regional and rural areas to access and participate in the program. Further, the project extended previous in-person songwriting research with duos (Clark et al, 2020(Clark et al, , 2021 by including participants from spousal and client/formal carer relationships in duo (phase 1) and group sessions (phase 2).…”

Exploring Shared Musical Experiences in Dementia Care: A Worked Example of a Qualitative Systematic Review and Thematic Synthesis

“…Linneberg and Korsgaard (2019) argue that lineby-line coding helps to counter any unconscious selectivity that may have occurred in first readings/interaction with data. After sorting included articles alphabetically by author, I began coding the extracted text from the first article in my list (Clark et al, 2021). I took careful notice of specific words as well as sentences and paragraphs as a whole (Linneberg & Thematic synthesis is recommended as an accessible approach for novice researchers (Noyes et al, 2019).…”