Building on burgeoning research in the field of arts and health, this article explores the role that learning musical instruments can play in enhancing wellbeing in older adulthood. Despite an increasing focus on the role of learning in supporting mental wellbeing, there is strikingly little research that examines this in relation to music, or that explores wellbeing as a subjective phenomenon captured through mixed-methods enquiry. This research addresses this gap through two inter-related studies. Study 1 adopts questionnaire measures of wellbeing with 98 music-learning and comparison participants, concluding that learning in older adulthood offers significant wellbeing benefits, with music particularly enhancing some health-promoting behaviours. To explore in more detail what learning music means to older adults, Study 2 adopts qualitative methods with a sub-group of 21 music-learning participants, concluding that learning music can enhance subjective wellbeing through six mechanisms: (1) subjective experiences of pleasure; (2) enhanced social interactions; (3) musically-nuanced engagement in day-to-day life; (4) fulfilment of musical ambition; (5) ability to make music; and (6) self-satisfaction through musical progress. Drawing the two studies together, the article concludes by arguing for further research to contribute to the growing body of evidence placing music learning at the centre of healthy ageing agendas.
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A musical improvisation inspired by a beautifulsummer day or by a song by Elvis; for patientsadmitted in hospital for an operation, music canhave healing powers. With the research projectMeaningful Music in Health Care (MiMiC), thattook place from autumn 2015 until 2018, the researchgroup Lifelong Learning in Music (LLM), togetherwith the department of surgery of the UniversityMedical Center Groningen (UMCG), researched thepractice of live music for hospital patients and theirhealth care professionals. For the research groupLifelong Learning in Music the focus of the researchwas on the meaning of this musical practice formusicians and health care professionals, and onthe development of this practice.The research of UMCG concentrated on the effectsof live music on the recovery and wellbeing of patients
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Music interventions are used for stress reduction in a variety of settings because of the positive effects of music listening on both physiological arousal (e.g., heart rate, blood pressure, and hormonal levels) and psychological stress experiences (e.g., restlessness, anxiety, and nervousness). To summarize the growing body of empirical research, two multilevel meta-analyses of 104 RCTs, containing 327 effect sizes and 9,617 participants, were performed to assess the strength of the effects of music interventions on both physiological and psychological stress-related outcomes, and to test the potential moderators of the intervention effects. Results showed that music interventions had an overall significant effect on stress reduction in both physiological (d = .380) and psychological (d = .545) outcomes. Further, moderator analyses showed that the type of outcome assessment moderated the effects of music interventions on stress-related outcomes. Larger effects were found on heart rate (d = .456), compared to blood pressure (d = .343) and hormone levels (d = .349). Implications for stress-reducing music interventions are discussed.
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As the Dutch population is aging, the field of music-in-healthcare keeps expanding. Healthcare, institutionally and at home, is multiprofessional and demands interprofessional collaboration. Musicians are sought-after collaborators in social and healthcare fields, yet lesser-known agents of this multiprofessional group. Although live music supports social-emotional wellbeing and vitality, and nurtures compassionate care delivery, interprofessional collaboration between musicians, social work, and healthcare professionals remains marginal. This limits optimising and integrating music-making in the care. A significant part of this problem is a lack of collaborative transdisciplinary education for music, social, and healthcare students that deep-dives into the development of interprofessional skills. To meet the growing demand for musical collaborations by particularly elderly care organisations, and to innovate musical contributions to the quality of social and healthcare in Northern Netherlands, a transdisciplinary education for music, physiotherapy, and social work studies is needed. This project aims to equip multiprofessional student groups of Hanze with interprofessional skills through co-creative transdisciplinary learning aimed at innovating and improving musical collaborative approaches for working with vulnerable, often older people. The education builds upon experiential learning in Learning LABs, and collaborative project work in real-life care settings, supported by transdisciplinary community forming.The expected outcomes include a new concept of a transdisciplinary education for HBO-curricula, concrete building blocks for a transdisciplinary arts-in-health minor study, innovative student-led approaches for supporting the care and wellbeing of (older) vulnerable people, enhanced integration of musicians in interprofessional care teams, and new interprofessional structures for educational collaboration between music, social work and healthcare faculties.
Since 2015, the research group Lifelong Learning in Music of Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen, together with the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG), has developed and researched the MiMiC practice for patients and nurses on surgical wards. The musicians make tailor-made music in the patients' rooms in collaboration with patients and nurses. They do this on the basis of verbal and non-verbal contact with patients and nurses. Person-centred music-making turns out to be easy to realise in a medical setting and to be meaningful for all involved. People who have just had surgery experience less pain. Nurses feel more deeply involved with their patients. Musicians show sensitivity for the social context in which they carry out their artistic practice.In this project the research group is developing an innovative artistic practice with a focus on elderly patients. Musicians work with patients and the care staff that are taking care of these patients during their stay in hospital. The research should lead to insights in the effects of this practice and to a new training for master students and professional musicians who want wish to specialise themselves in this field. Pilots on six different wards of the UMCG with professional musicians and master students are part of the research which will last two years in its entirety. The project has been granted funding from the 'Banning de Jong Fonds' of the national 'Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds' and the 'Fonds Sluyterman van Loo'.
Het onderzoek Meaningful Music in Health Care (MiMiC) biedt kansen voor interprofessionele samenwerking van musici en verpleegkundigen. Daarnaast blijkt MiMiC ook tot een versterkt contact tussen patiënten en verpleegkundigen te leiden en tot een toename van compassie van verpleegkundigen. Wat houdt deze interprofessionaliteit precies in en hoe kan deze worden verder vorm krijgen?In Professional Excellence in Meaningful Music in Healthcare (ProMiMiC), beoogt een internationaal consortium van partners uit de muziekwereld en de gezondheidszorg de bestaande live muziek praktijk van MiMiC steviger te verankeren in ziekenhuiszorg. De partners bestaan uit instellingen voor muziekvakonderwijs en ziekenhuizen uit Groningen, Den Haag, Londen en Wenen.Samen hebben alle partners de expertise om praktijkgericht onderzoek naar professionalisering van deze muziekpraktijk uit te voeren. Daarmee kan een bijdrage geleverd worden aan ontwikkelingen als uitkomstgerichte zorg, positieve gezondheid, en een bredere maatschappelijke inzet van musici.Live muziek in het ziekenhuis? MiMiC - Meaningful Music in Health Care – is precies dat: een kleine groep musici die persoonsgerichte improvisaties voor patiënten en verpleegkundigen speelt. De musici maken op de patiëntenkamers muziek ‘op maat’, in interactie met de patiënten, op basis van hun voorkeuren, herinneringen, etc. Dit levert waardevolle momenten van esthetische ervaring en zingeving op, voor zowel patiënten als verpleegkundigen en musici.Sinds 2015 heeft het lectoraat Lifelong Learning in Music van de Hanzehogeschool Groningen samen met het UMCG de MiMiC-praktijk ontwikkeld en onderzocht voor patiënten van chirurgische afdelingen. Persoonsgericht musiceren blijkt goed te realiseren in een medische setting en voor alle betrokkenen zeer betekenisvol te zijn. Patiënten ervaren minder pijn en voelen zich beter. Daarnaast biedt deze innovatieve praktijk musici en verpleegkundigen nieuwe mogelijkheden om zich professioneel verder te ontwikkelen. Daartoe willen we ProMiMiC uitvoeren.ProMiMiC speelt in op de behoefte van musici en verpleegkundigen om beter samen te werken en daarin van elkaar te leren, alsook om persoonsgerichte live muziek te kunnen gebruiken als katalysator voor een compassievolle patiëntrelatie. Met de verdere professionalisering van musici en verpleegkundigen is de MiMiC praktijk geschikt voor brede toepassing in de ziekenhuiszorg. Daarmee kan een bijdrage geleverd worden aan ontwikkelingen als Uitkomstgerichte Zorg, positieve gezondheid, en bredere maatschappelijke inzet van musici.In het consortium zijn uit drie landen hooggekwalificeerde kennisinstellingen op het gebied van muziek en van zorg gebundeld. Samen hebben zij de expertise om in een rijke context toegepast onderzoek naar professionalisering in MiMiC uit te voeren. Dit leidt tot een verbeterde uitvoering van de MiMiC praktijk en hierop aansluitende scholing van studenten en professionals in muziek en zorg. Dit zal musici en verpleegkundigen in staat stellen excellente professionals te zijn m.b.v. gepersonaliseerde live muziek in de zorg.
