There might be only a few people in this world who don’t enjoy any form of music. Music allows us to reminisce about great memories, think about a positive future, and bring some peace to our lives. Music therapy can play a significant role in bringing comfort to hospice and palliative care patients. It has been clinically proven that music’s natural uplifting qualities can improve a person’s mental well-being and make them feel more optimistic. Patients of all ethnicities, abilities, ages, and cultural backgrounds enjoy music and can gain many benefits from music therapy during end-of-life care.
Benefits of Music Therapy for Hospice Care Patients
Better Quality of Life
Music therapy can be a way to help decrease discomfort and pain with one-on-one intervention. It can help improve a patient’s emotional well-being and allow them to find relaxation and comfort through music. Music therapists ascertain a patient’s specific needs for treatment through their knowledge and experience.
A Means of Expression
If a senior in hospice care likes hymns and other spiritual types of music, they can find comfort and support through this particular type of music therapy. It can allow them to express their faith and values and become more emotionally engaged with this activity.
An Entertaining TIme
Some hospitals and care homes even have traveling big band musicians or jazz quartets play for their residents like a live concert. This is an exhilarating experience for wheel chair bound folks who might not otherwise get to attend events. They are able to be emotionally transported when they cannot be physically transported.
Processing of Emotions
Death is not an easy topic to discuss for many people. If a terminally ill person is struggling with serious emotions regarding dying and bereavement, they can seek the help of music therapy for an alternate way to process their emotions.
Social Support
If a loved one is feeling isolated or lonely in hospice care, music therapy can help facilitate family communication between different members and allow the patient an opportunity to interact with new individuals.
How Does it Work?
From a technical point of view, music therapy can be broken into four different types. These methods are composition, improvisation, receptive and re-creative. With the receptive method, a patient listens to music. With the re-creative method, a patient will “recreate” existing songs either by signing or playing them on instruments. Anyone can do the improvisation method – this can include clapping hands, stomping feet, or singing spontaneously. The composition method might be most appropriate for hospice residents who previously developed expertise in a musical instrument or singing in a choir or on stage. In this method a music therapy client might completely compose a song.
Contact Hospice Home Care
There is a lot that can be done to offer comfort and support to loved ones in their last stages of life. Get in touch with Hospice Home Care and learn all about hospice care Los Angeles from our experts.
