Research: Therapeutic group songwriting for people living with dementia and their family care partners
I’m proud to share a recently-published journal article from the Australian Journal of Music Therapy. This article is free to access for the public, and explores the theoretical and practical thinking behind therapeutic songwriting groups.
For those who don’t enjoy reading academic journal articles, here’s a simple overview of the article…
I interviewed three experienced music therapists to ask them about how they use therapeutic songwriting groups to support people living with dementia and their family care partners. When I analysed these interviews, I noticed that there were a few things they had in common. All of the music therapists worked to support the human rights and identity of their group members through being flexible, responsive and inclusive. In thinking about their experiences of facilitating groups, the music therapists talked about how being part of a group and engaging in creative songwriting helped to support the relationships between the pairs.
