The design and implementation of a novel music-based curriculum for dementia care professionals: The experience of SOUND in Italy, Portugal and Romania.

BACKGROUND: The positive effects of active and passive music activities on older people with dementia are well and largely documented by the literature. Nevertheless, the use of music as a non-pharmacological intervention is not so common both in private and public older people care facilities because in-home staff have no competencies for delivering such activities. Conversely, the realization and implementation of a co-designed music-based curriculum for dementia care professionals may help the diffusion of music in the older people care facilities. This study was aimed at evaluating the learning outcomes of the SOUND training, based on an original co-designed music-based curriculum for dementia care professionals and implemented in Italy, Portugal and Romania. METHODS: The SOUND training study was developed through three phases: a) the co-design of the music-based curriculum for dementia care professionals, involving 55 people in the three participating countries; b) the teaching of the training curriculum to 63 dementia care professionals (29 in Italy, 17 in Portugal and 17 in Romania), delivered both in person and via a Moodle platform named Virtual Music Circle; c) the learning outcomes assessment, carried out by means of 13 self-evaluation tests, and a practical test, and the trainees' course evaluation by a questionnaire. RESULTS: Most of the trainees reached the highest score in the evaluation of the theoretical competencies in the three study countries. Conversely, some practical competencies in the facilitation of music activities need to be fine-tuned. The SOUND training course was evaluated very positively in the overall structure, theoretical contents, and practical workshops by the trainees. Nevertheless, they preferred the face-to-face compared to the distance learning methodology in the three countries. CONCLUSIONS: The SOUND training curriculum was effective in teaching music techniques and neurocognitive knowledge to dementia care professionals. Nevertheless, future courses should be differentiated for dementia care professionals with or without previous music knowledge and competencies. Moreover, the course is fully sustainable, because it does not require additional costs given that the curriculum is fully accessible online and it is also replicable because it trains professionals who can continue to apply the method in their working routine.

A quasi-experimental mixed-method pilot study to check the efficacy of the "SOUND" active and passive music-based intervention on mental wellbeing and residual cognition of older people with dementia and dementia professionals' burnout: a research protocol.

Purpose: The SOUND method offers an innovative blended intervention based on music circle-activities and cognitive stimulation approaches which was co-designed by musicians, health professionals, older people with dementia, family caregivers and researchers, for its application in dementia settings. The purpose of the paper is to describe the detailed procedure of the quasi-experimental pilot study. Method: The experimental phase of SOUND uses a mixed-method design encompassing qualitative and quantitative observations, cognitive testing, self-report and interviewer-assisted questionnaires to investigate the effectiveness of the intervention for 45 people with dementia and 45 professionals (15 in every study country: Italy, Portugal, Romania). Results: The pilot study will be the first implementation of the SOUND intervention aiming to investigate the feasibility and preliminary effects of the method. Conclusion: The novelty of SOUND is its multicomponent method, including the most evidenced features for improving the wellbeing of participants.

Recognition of elder abuse by home care workers and older people in Romania.

BACKGROUND: No previous studies have considered elder abuse in Eastern Europe. We aimed to determine the proportion of home care workers and older people receiving care in a Romanian home care service who correctly identified elder abuse in a vignette, and who had detected elder abuse at work. METHODS: In 2009, care workers and clients of a non-government home care organization serving four areas in Romania completed the Caregiver Scenario Questionnaire to measure ability to identify abuse. We asked the professionals whether they had detected a case of abuse. RESULTS: 35 (100%) professionals and 79 (65.8%) older people took part. Four (11.4%) professionals had encountered a case of elder abuse, two (5.7%) in the last year. No staff and only one older person correctly identified all four abusive strategies in a vignette. Staff with more professional caregiving experience recognized fewer abusive strategies (r = -0.46, p = 0.007). CONCLUSION: Rates of identification were worryingly low among all professionals, and this was more marked if they had worked longer, suggesting their experiences may have reduced their ability to detect it. Mandatory abuse training for care professionals, and strategies to support reporters of suspected abuse, could help improve the management of elder abuse in all countries.