Process characteristics of home-based music therapy

Carina Petrowitz, PhD student, University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt

In her PhD project, Carina Petrowitz explores process characteristics of home-based music therapy for people with dementia and their family carers in a qualitative study based on video recordings. She looks at the activities of music therapists working in Homeside during joint music interventions with people with dementia and their family carers. In the music therapy intervention in Homeside, the music therapists discover, experience and develop beneficial music activities together with the participating couples. They guide the participants to use and apply music in their everyday life to increase well-being and create meaningful moments together. This new music therapy method is examined through video analyses aiming to identify both opportunities and challenges in the approach.