1. Setting Up Tablets
2. Setting Up 6 Email & Spotify Accounts
3. Connecting Bluetooth Devices
4. Creating Playlists
5. Sharing Playlists Between Accounts
6. Personalizing a Playlist
7. Listening Sessions
What is the Heart for Music program?​
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A personalized music program aimed to provide older adults access to their favourite music through digital devices and headphones. Listening to music that is personalized has shown to unlock cherished memories and invoke positive emotions such as joy, happiness, peacefulness and calmness. This project is an initiative governed by Rick’s Heart Foundation, a local Canadian registered charity within British Columbia. The founder, Rick Diamond, advocates that music is an effective resource to positively impact older adults who are either living with dementia and/or are isolated in long term care facilities.
​What is dementia?
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Dementia is an umbrella term that encompasses a variety of diseases including: Alzheimer’s, vascular dementia, frontotemporal dementia, mixed dementia, and Lewy body dementia (Legere et al., 2018). This particular disease is associated with the deterioration of cognitive functions related to thinking and memory, which can negatively impact an individual’s ability to perform daily activities (Cuevas, Davidson, Mejilla & Rodney, 2020). Along with the progressive decline of overall functioning, individuals with dementia also experience both psychological and behavioural symptoms such as agitation, anxiety and depression (Mortby, Maercker & Forstmeier, 2012 as cited in Weise, Töpfer, Deux & Wilz, 2020).
​What does the research say about dementia in Canada?
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In 2016, a Canadian study estimated that there are 564,000 individuals living with dementia (Alzheimer Society of Canada, 2016). Of those individuals, 62,000 are British Columbians and these numbers are projected to rise to 87,000 by 2024 (Ministry of Health of British Columbia, 2016).
​What does the research say about utilizing music for people living with dementia?
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​Personalized music interventions have shown to be beneficial for individuals with dementia because of the ability to access their long term memory (King, Jones, Goldberg, Rollins, & MacNamee, 2019 as cited in Weise et al., 2020). Although dementia affects cognitive functions, individuals are still capable of remembering personally relevant music (Weise et al., 2020). Moreover, listening to music that is meaningful stimulates certain areas of the brain responsible for relaxation and positive mood (Särkämö, 2018; Särkämö et al., 2012 as cited in Weise et al., 2020). The therapeutic benefits of music can also encourage positive health outcomes linked to a decrease in agitation, aggression and anxiety (Sung et al., 2010; Martin et al., 2016; Park et al. 2016; de la Torre-Luque et al., 2017 as cited in Dimopoulos-Bick et al., 2019).
​​​References
1. Alzheimer Society of Canada (2016). Dementia numbers in Canada. Retrieved from https://alzheimer.ca/en/about-dementia/what-dementia/dementia-numbers-canada
2. Cuevas, P. E. G., Davidson, P. M., Mejilla, J. L., & Rodney, T. W. (2020). Reminiscence therapy for older adults with Alzheimer’s disease: A literature review. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 29(3), 364–371. https://doi.org/10.1111/inm.12692
3. Dimopoulos-Bick, T., Clowes, K. E., Conciatore, K., Haertsch, M., Verma, R., & Levesque, J.-F. (2019). Barriers and facilitators to implementing playlists as a novel personalised music intervention in public healthcare settings in New South Wales, Australia. Australian Journal of Primary Health, 25(1), 31–36. https://doi.org/10.1071/PY18084
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4. Legere, L. E., McNeill, S., Schindel Martin, L., Acorn, M., & An, D. (2018). Nonpharmacological approaches for behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia in older adults: A systematic review of reviews. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 27(7–8). https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.14007
5. Ministry of Health of British Columbia (2016). Provincial guide to dementia care in British Columbia. Retrieved from https://www.health.gov.bc.ca/library/publications/year/2016/bc-dementia-care-guide.pdf
6. Weise, L., Töpfer, N. F., Deux, J., & Wilz, G. (2020). Feasibility and effects of individualized recorded music for people with dementia: A pilot RCT study. Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, 29(1), 39–56. https://doi.org/10.1080/08098131.2019.1661507