Music therapy and its applications in dementia care: Spanish perspectives

Abstract

Dementia in general and Alzheimer’s disease in particular have come to be considered an important health problem of the 21st century. Currently in Spain the number of people affected is approximately 1,200,000; a figure that approaches five million if we include family members (CEAFA, 2019). There is a growing body of empirical evidence suggesting that music may be a useful intervention for the treatment of a variety of dementia symptoms in different stages of the disease. Different types of music-based interventions are differentiated in the literature; those carried out by professional music therapists and those applied by caregivers under the training and supervision of professional music therapists. Music is often used in dementia care in Spain. As the music therapy profession is not yet fully recognised, sometimes the difference between music therapy interventions and other music-based interventions in care homes is not clear. Following the principles of the Global Music Approach to Persons with Dementia (PWD) proposed by Raglio et al. (2014), the focus of this report is to present two projects carried out in Spain by professional music therapists with caregivers (professional and family) to foster the use of music-based activities with persons with dementia until the end of their lives. Reflections on the role of the music therapist in this approach and the importance of clarifying it in the care of PWD are included in the discussion section.