The HOMESIDE study results will be presented at the British Association for Music Therapy Conference (BAMT) 2024, taking place from 17-19 May in Leicester and online. The conference theme is ‘About All of Us, For All of Us, By All of Us’.
HOMESIDE was an international randomised controlled trial investigating the effects of music and reading on wellbeing for people living with dementia and their caregivers. 864 people took part in the study across the UK, Australia, Germany, Norway and Poland.
To find out the benefits of the music and reading activities, participants in HOMESIDE were randomly assigned to one of three programmes: music, reading, or usual care (with no additional music or reading).
Participants in the music and reading programmes received one-on-one professional support online to use either music or reading activities together and were asked to engage in these activities at home regularly for three months.
The findings of our study suggest that while caregiver-delivered music and reading activities may not lead to long-term reductions in psychological symptoms of dementia, there are notable short-term benefits, particularly when actively participating in music activities (for example, singing rather than just listening).
Furthermore, individual responses may vary, and people living with dementia and their caregivers can derive personal benefits from using music as a therapeutic tool.
Finally, participants in our study received support remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and it will be of future interest to study the potential effect of in-person professional support.
We express our gratitude to the 864 participants from the five countries who kindly dedicated their time and effort to take part in the study. This research would not have been possible without the valuable contributions of the participants, our Participant and Public Involvement committee members, and various organisations that provided funding for the EU-JPND programme across the five countries.
The HOMESIDE study was funded by the EU’s JPND research programme, which includes joint financial support from:
HOMESIDE is registered with two international registries for clinical research studies:
The project received ethical approval from the NHS Research Ethics Committee.
This sequential mixed-methods sub-study explores participant experiences of the HOMESIDE music and reading training sessions across the five countries.
The study uses data from post-training questionnaires and semi-structured interviews to understand participants’ experiences of being trained in the HOMESIDE interventions, and the most and least useful aspects of the training as perceived by the participants. It uses a codebook approach to thematic analysis to develop themes reflecting the participants’ experiences and perceptions of the training.
This sub-study is ongoing.
This study was initiated and co-designed by the HOMESIDE Participant and Public Involvement (PPI) group. The aim was to capture experiences of PPI across the five participating countries, explore the benefits and challenges of PPI in dementia research, and identify contributions made to the study.
To investigate this aim, 23 PPI members and academic researchers who collaborated on the HOMESIDE study completed a survey. Results from the survey resulted in the development of five recommendations:
PhD Researcher: Jodie Bloska
In her PhD project, Jodie will explore how the HOMESIDE music intervention can support relationship quality and social connection for people living with dementia and their informal carers.
Within the HOMESIDE study, participants are trained and supported by qualified music therapists to use shared music activities at home together. Using a mixed-methods multiple case studies approach, Jodie’s research will look deeply into how people living with dementia and their carers experience feelings of social connection when engaged in these shared music activities.
The study will use methods from the field of social neuroscience to investigate what is happening in participants’ brains during moments of shared verbal and non-verbal interaction within the activities, and to explore how brain activity relates to the social context of the HOMESIDE music intervention.
PhD Researcher: Dr Nina Wollersberger
Supervisory team: Prof Helen Odell-Miller (1st), Dr Ming-Hung Hsu (2nd), Dr Jonathan Pool (3rd)
This doctoral research project was a sub-study of the HOMESIDE international randomised controlled trial. It was a multi-strand mixed methods study exploring the impact of the HOMESIDE music intervention on the quality of life of 15 caregivers who took part in the study in the UK.
The study integrated caregiver, music therapist and researcher-practitioner perspectives to gain a holistic understanding of impact, mechanisms and implications of impact on caregiver quality of life. It found that several aspects of caregiver quality of life, including mental health, the caregiving relationship, knowledge of dementia and access to support may be maintained by the music intervention.
Mechanisms supporting quality of life occur in four re-iterative phases of:
Implications for future practice include the need for an overt focus on the caregiver’s wellbeing, long-term therapist input and a social support model.
PhD Researcher: Sarah Crabtree
Supervisory team: Prof Helen Odell-Miller (1st), Dr Ming-Hung Hsu (2nd), Dr Jonathan Pool (3rd)
The PhD study provides an understanding of determining the needs of people living with dementia and their caregivers, providing the basis for further focused and effective training programmes for caregivers. It answers the questions of what the needs are for people with dementia and their caregivers, and what types of musical interventions fulfil those needs.
The study explores correlations emerging between the needs determined through literature and the musical interventions recorded within diaries to determine the effects. Analysis of the data can show that certain musical interventions fulfil the needs of people living with dementia for certain situations.
Baker, F. A., Soo, V. P., Bloska, J., Blauth, L., Bukowska, A. A., Flynn, L., Hsu, M. H., Janus, E., Johansson, K., Kvamme, T. and Lautenschlager, N. (2023) 'Home-based family caregiver-delivered music and reading interventions for people living with dementia (HOMESIDE trial): an international randomised controlled trial', eClinicalMedicine. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2023.102224
Pac Soo, V., Baker, F. A., Sousa, T. V., Odell-Miller, H., Stensæth, K., Wosch, T., Bukowska, A. A., Tamplin, J., Lautenschlager, N., Braat, S. and Lamb, K. E. (2023) 'Statistical analysis plan for HOMESIDE: a randomised controlled trial for home-based family caregiver-delivered music and reading interventions for people living with dementia', Trials, 24(1), pp. 316. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-023-07327-8
Baker, F. A., Bloska, J., Stensæth, K., Wosch, T., Bukowska, A., Braat, S., Sousa, T., Tamplin, J., Clark, I. N., Lee, Y.-E. C., Clarke, P., Lautenschlager and N., Odell-Miller, H. (2019) 'HOMESIDE: A home-based family caregiver-delivered music intervention for people living with dementia: protocol of a randomised controlled trial', British Medical Journal Open. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-031332
Baker, F. A., Blauth, L., Bloska, J., Bukowska, A, Flynn, L., Hsu, M., Janus, E., Johansson, K., Miller, H., Odell-Miller, H., Petrowitz, C., Pool, J., Stensaeth, K., Tamplin, J., Teggelove, K., Wosch, T. and Sousa, T. (2023) 'Recruitment Approaches and Profiles of Consenting Family Caregivers and People living with Dementia: A Recruitment Study Within a Trial', Contemporary Clinical Trials Communication. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conctc.2023.101079
Baker, F. A., Pool, J., Johansson, K., Wosch, T., Bukowska, A., Blauth, L., Stensaeth, K., Clark, I. and Odell Miller, H. (2021) 'Strategies for Increasing Recruitment of older adults to Music Therapy Studies: A Systematic Review', Journal of Music Therapy, 58(4), pp. 373-407. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/jmt/thab010
Odell-Miller, H. Blauth, L., Bloska, J.,Bukowska, A. A., Clark, I. N., Crabtree, S., Engen, R. B., Knardal, S. Kvamme, T. K., McMahon, K., Petrowitz C., Smrokowska-Reichmann, A., Stensæth, K., Tamplin, J., Wosch, T., Wollersberger, N. and Baker, F. A (2022) 'The HOMESIDE music intervention: A training protocol for family carers of people living with dementia', European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education, 12, pp. 1812–1832. Available at: https://doi.org/ 10.3390/ejihpe12120127
Stedje, K., Kvamme, T., Johansson, K., Vera Sousa, T., Bukowska, A., Odell-Miller, H., Stensaeth, K. and Baker, F. A. (2023) 'The influence of home-based music interventions on spousal relationship quality in couples living with dementia – an adapted convergent mixed methods study', International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20, pp. 2863. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20042863
McMahon, K., Clark, I. N., Stensaeth, K., Odell-Miller, H., Wosch, T., Bukowska, A., Baker, F. A. (2022) 'A Qualitative Systematic Review of the Experiences of Sharing Music for People Living with Dementia and their Family Caregivers: The Thread of Connection', Arts and Health. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/17533015.2022.2128381
McMahon, K., Clark, I. N., Stensaeth, K., Odell-Miller, H., Wosch, T., Bukowska, A., Baker, F. A. (2022) 'A Worked Example of a Qualitative Systematic Review and Thematic Synthesis: Exploring Shared Musical Experiences in Dementia Care', International Journal of Qualitative Research, 21. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069221127509
Stedje, K., Kvamme, T. K., Johansson, K., Stensæth, K. A., Odell-Miller, H., Bukowska, A., Tamplin, J., Wosch, T. and Baker, F. A. (2022) 'Influential factors of spousal relationship quality in couples living with dementia - A narrative synthesis systematic review', Dementia: International Journal of Social Research and Practice. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/14713012221137280
Flynn, L., Teggelove, K., Tamplin, J. and Baker, F. A. (2022) 'We’re doing something together', Australian Journal of Dementia Care, 11(2), pp. 18-20.
The HOMESIDE study results will be presented at the British Association for Music Therapy Conference (BAMT) 2024, taking place from 17-19 May in Leicester and online. The conference theme is ‘About All of Us, For All of Us, By All of Us’.
The results of the three-year HOMESIDE trial were published in the journal eClinicalMedicine, part of the Lancet, on 2 October 2023. The findings show that music and reading interventions delivered by trained caregivers in community contexts do not decrease enduring psychological symptoms of dementia.
Emeritus Professor
Senior Research Fellow
Senior Research Fellow
Clinical Research Fellow
