The purpose of this project is to continue developing and evaluating which technologies for music interventions can benefit older adults with frailty, including dementia, and their care partners.
The research question is: How and which technologies (e.g., online music programs, digital apps, virtual reality) can be beneficial for older adults with frailty, including dementia, and their care partners?
Music-based interventions have shown a range of positive effects on older adults, especially those with frailty and dementia. Music-based interventions affect hormone levels, influence the autonomic nervous system and neurotransmitters, help maintain cognition, and alleviate anxiety, depression, and challenging behaviors associated with dementia. Even low-tech, non-customized music interventions have a positive effect, though they may not be scalable. Although technology is one of the fastest-growing and most effective means of delivering large-scale interventions across different environments (e.g., home care), there is a lack of knowledge about how to integrate technology with evidence-based outcomes from analog interventions. Moreover, there is a lack of systematic involvement of end-users, not only in the experience of technology but also in how it fits into daily life.
Technology is one of the fastest-growing and most effective ways to deliver large-scale interventions within various environments, such as home care. Despite this, there are some key challenges, such as a lack of knowledge on how technology can be integrated with evidence-based outcomes from analog interventions and insufficient user involvement, not only in the experience of the technology but also in how it fits into everyday life. The technology used in dementia care must have unique characteristics, such as being specifically tailored for cognitively frail individuals.
Care partners, such as spouses, partners, adult children, or friends, play a crucial role in supporting older adults with frailty living at home. The ability to age with dignity at home depends not only on professional services but also on care from partners, integration of welfare technology to support both the older adult and the care partner, and the need for support for care partners.
It is important to develop strategies that promote the health and well-being of care partners, and to be effective, these efforts should be non-invasive, cost-effective, and culturally adapted.
This project will draw on lessons from previous research while identifying areas where we need to go to optimize the use of established and new technology to reduce stress for care partners. Moreover, we are aware that there are unique circumstances when it comes to the caregiving burden for care partners. The challenges associated with being a care partner for frail older adults with dementia present several challenges that require special attention. To be effective, any technology chosen for use in dementia care must have a unique combination of characteristics that go beyond what may be needed for general medical conditions without impacting cognition. Therefore, this project will also strategically include partner dyads where one person is living with dementia.
The study will be conducted in different parts of the Stockholm area. The project will use an iterative co-design approach in three steps with multiple stakeholder groups. In the first step, a database of participants from a previous study will be used to recruit partner dyads where one partner is living with dementia at home. In step two, care partner dyads will be recruited from the project and . In the third step, participants from steps 1-2 will be used, along with snowball recruitment of other stakeholders. The research environment will consist of different parts of the Stockholm area. Sessions may be organized at one of our partner organizations to offer locations close to participants' homes.
In the first step, group interviews will be used to explore experiences of a music intervention conducted with individuals living with dementia at home and their care partners. The interviews will focus on the experiences of participating in the music intervention, the extent to which participants continued to use the intervention's resources after the intervention ended, and any personally perceived strengths/weaknesses/future wishes related to the music intervention. The total number of potential participants includes 32 dyads who participated in the music intervention.
In the second step, workshops will be used to engage older adults receiving home care and their care partners in a generative data process to explore various types of welfare technology useful for delivering a music-based intervention. A combination of exposure to technology, trials with technology, group interviews, visualization, and design thinking methods will be used to generate data focused on critical elements that can inform the potential benefit of 1) technology in delivering the intervention, 2) technology as available, 3) technology as effective, and 4) the need for support in using technology. Field notes will be used, and interviews and group discussions will be recorded.
In the third step, workshops will be held where stakeholders with different backgrounds are invited to discuss and prioritize the options developed during steps 1-2. It is expected that some services and technologies will receive low priority from many participants, and some services and technologies will receive high priority from different groupings. This diversity will provide impetus for further exploration, design, and prototyping.