A cluster randomised controlled trial will be conducted to investigate the research question:
In people living with dementia living in care homes, does incorporating personalised music into care plans using the FITS (Focussed Intervention Training and Support) model reduce distress compared to standard practice without a systematic music intervention?
This NIHR-funded project is sponsored by Sheffield Health & Social Care NHS Foundation Trust, and will be led by Dr Daniel Hind, University of Leeds, with the University of Sheffield's CTRU providing trial management and support.
Background
Seven in ten older people living in care homes suffer from dementia. Only one in twenty care homes use music well to support and help the older person. We want to see if changing the way that music is used makes a difference to everyday care. Not many trials have studied how to use music for people living with dementia in care homes, but it is thought that personalised music may help people with dementia feel more relaxed and content.
Research aims
Teach dementia care staff how to use music in a personalised way as part of the care plan
Investigate whether using personalised music within care planning can help care home residents by reducing dementia changed behaviours and distress
See if using personalised music can help care home staff to care for residents more easily
Design and methods
First, we will look at how dementia care is normally done in 58 care homes. Then, in 29 of the homes, we will provide training to a few care staff 'champions' on how to care for each person in a personalised way. They will also learn how to plan and use personalised music for each resident, including creating personalised playlists and integrating music into daily care routines. An average of seven people living with dementia in each home can have their own personalised music at any time. The other 29 homes will continue to care for residents as usual without training to use music.
Care staff will answer questions before and after they learn to use music in a personalised way. We will compare the homes where the staff were trained with the homes that had no training. The answers will tell us if the music helps residents feel less upset and take part in everyday activities. At the end of the study period, we will talk to the care staff and managers to hear what they think about using personalised music in the care home.
Patient and public involvement
The planning of PUMA was informed by discussions with people living with dementia, their families, and caregivers. They shared how music is used in homes, and liked the idea of using music more in care, but some said communal music groups in busy environments might make some people living with dementia feel upset. This led to the decision to use music in a personalised way for each resident. The groups also advised us to be thoughtful about the language we use when talking about people living with dementia.
We will continue working alongside groups of experts from the start to the end of the PUMA project. We are also going to ask people living with dementia and their families to help us if we face any problems, and to help us to disseminate our findings once the study is complete.
Dissemination
We want to tell a variety of groups what we find out in our study. This includes people who live in care homes and those that work in care homes, the public, those who make rules, and scientists. We plan to do this in a few ways:
We will have a final dissemination event where we will share what we found. The people who live in care homes, their families, and the care staff will be able to join us and hear about our findings.
- We will talk about our findings at meetings for care homes and meetings focused on dementia.
- We will write articles for different kinds of magazines that caregivers use, for people who get care, and ones for scientists.
Contact details
You can get in touch with the study team at: puma@sheffield.ac.uk