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

Kristi Stedje (), Tone Sæther Kvamme, Kjersti Johansson, Tanara Vieira Sousa, Helen Odell-Miller, Karette Annie Stensæth, Anna A. Bukowska, Jeanette Tamplin, Thomas Wosch and Felicity Anne Baker
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Kristi Stedje: Centre for Research in Music and Health, Norwegian Academy of Music, 0369 Oslo, Norway
Tone Sæther Kvamme: Centre for Research in Music and Health, Norwegian Academy of Music, 0369 Oslo, Norway
Kjersti Johansson: Centre for Research in Music and Health, Norwegian Academy of Music, 0369 Oslo, Norway
Tanara Vieira Sousa: Creative Arts and Music Therapy Research Unit, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia
Helen Odell-Miller: Cambridge Institute for Music Therapy Research, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge CB1 1PT, UK
Karette Annie Stensæth: Centre for Research in Music and Health, Norwegian Academy of Music, 0369 Oslo, Norway
Anna A. Bukowska: Institute of Applied Sciences, University of Physical Education in Krakow, 31-571 Krakow, Poland
Jeanette Tamplin: Creative Arts and Music Therapy Research Unit, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia
Thomas Wosch: Music Therapy Lab, Institute for Applied Social Sciences, University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt, 97072 Würzburg, Germany
Felicity Anne Baker: Centre for Research in Music and Health, Norwegian Academy of Music, 0369 Oslo, Norway

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 4, 1-16

Abstract: Relationship quality is important for well-being and quality of life in couples living with dementia. Home-based music therapy interventions may be conducted with the aim of enhancing relationship quality. However, the effects or influences of such interventions are only briefly investigated in previous studies. This study’s aim was to identify how a 12-week home-based music therapy intervention may influence relationship quality in couples living with dementia, through an adapted convergent mixed methods design. In this case, 68 participating couples from the HOMESIDE RCT study, and four individually recruited couples, received the music therapy intervention. Relationship quality for all participants was measured by the standardized Quality of Caregiver-Patient Relationship scale, and qualitative interviews were conducted with the four individually recruited participants at baseline and post intervention. Quantitative analysis indicated no statistically significant intervention effect. However, relationship quality remained stable over the intervention period. The qualitative analysis identified that the music therapy interventions primarily led to positive emotions, closeness, intimacy, and communication between the persons with dementia and their care partners. Intervention influences could also be ambiguous, as sharing music experiences might involve a risk of evoking vulnerabilities or negative emotional responses.

Keywords: music therapy; music therapy interventions; dementia; relationship quality; couples; couplehood (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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