Document Type

Thesis

First Advisor

Dr. Paul Kenyon

Publication Date

5-2024

Scholarship Domain(s)

Scholarship of Discovery

Abstract

Dementia impacts millions of individuals and their families worldwide, yet many caregivers remain untrained, unpaid, and unable to maintain their own health while caring for their patients. Despite the need for support, limited resources exist to aid these caregivers in combatting this progressive, debilitating disease. One possibility lies in practices rooted in music therapy, which have been shown to restore memory retention, personhood, and quality of life in dementia patients. However, individuals outside of music therapists, especially those with limited musical backgrounds, may not consider implementing music therapy within their care plan. To make this approach more accessible, a website was created that educates caregivers of geriatric dementia patients on how to implement the therapeutic use of music in their own caregiving situations regardless of their musical ability. Six reviewers, five caregivers and one music therapist, evaluated the website in a survey that assessed the website navigation, comprehensibility of the content, educational value, accessibility, and practicality for caregivers of dementia patients. The results of the survey indicated that the website content was easy to navigate, accessible, practical for a variety of caregiving settings, comprehensible to the general public, and educational for individuals of diverse musical backgrounds. Open-ended feedback from the survey was reviewed and used to revise the website content for re-publishing. The intent of this website is to reach as many caregivers as possible to help better not only the lives of their dementia patients but their own lives as well.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

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