Sarah Crabtree Profile
Sarah Crabtree
Vice Chancellor’s PhD scholar
“The one thing that is unique to us is our memory.”
Sarah Crabtree is one of three UK music interventionists for Homeside. She is also completing a PhD as a Vice Chancellor’s PhD scholar, using data collected in the research study to help her investigate her hypothesis. I began our discussion by asking Sarah about how her role as a music therapist feeds into her role as a music interventionist. Sarah explained the interesting balance that exists between the two, how she is there as a researcher in the role of an interventionist but also a music therapist. She said she approaches the role as a researcher, whilst still wearing her music therapy hat. She very aptly summarised her overall role as “presenting the information as a researcher but responding as a music therapist.”
Sarah discussed how her role involved her partaking in a version of group music therapy due to both the caregiver and care recipients involvement in the intervention. She highlighted how the interventionists are trying to support the caregiver to use music in a way that can support the person with dementia. Sarah shared with me her observations regarding the person with dementia’s symptoms also being experienced by their caregiver. Her role as a music therapist is to help the caregiver understand how music can help them respond to their loved ones symptoms in a certain way. Using music as an intervention can have the effect of lowering the symptoms which supports both members of the dyad. Sarah described this process as “trying to work through the caregiver.”
Sarah highlighted how unique our memory is and how this can be connected to playing music together and creating memories. Having these moments can help lower symptoms such as calming anxiety. She recalled an experience when working as a music therapist in a palliative care setting that demonstrated how music can provide support to both the patient and their family. Sarah said the music is “giving them some extra memories that they can share together” and that as a music therapist “you do have that moment […] authentic moment.” Sarah further explained the aim of explaining how we can extend music therapy beyond the session. Through involving care staff, they can use different music activities throughout the week with patients. This links to the purpose of Homeside in trying to extend the use of music therapy to the caregiver who can support the care recipient musically as well as the music therapist.
Sarah trained as a music therapist at Anglia Ruskin University. During her training she had placements in Palliative care and Profound and Multiple learning Disability settings. Sarah commented on how wonderful it was to watch how honest and authentic the students she worked with were. As her career developed and she gained experience working with people who have dementia Sarah noticed some strong similarities between these client groups, again referencing the authenticity of her clients. She had also worked with elderly people through family links she had with the church. All of this experience informed her when applying to work as a music interventionist and PhD researcher on Homeside.
Sarah discussed the interest that she has always had in doing research. She had enjoyed completing her master’s dissertation during her training. Sarah observed the need for research to have more of a scientific boundary, and for medical evidence to be provided to funders for the research to occur. Her inspiration for her PhD came from working with people with dementia. Titled ‘Investigating music, in particular singing, listening, playing and movement, and how it fulfils the needs of adults with dementia and their caregivers living at home’, her aim is to investigate different musical activities; singing, listening, playing instruments and using movement, and trying to connect these activities to certain symptoms.