Music in Mind Training - Theory of Change Models
The four Theory of Change Models in this Figshare link constitute the main study outcomes of a completed NIHR SSCR study (2022-2024) that focussed on Music in Mind Training which is an educational development of Manchester Camerata’s Music in Mind programme (https://manchestercamerata.co.uk/community/music-and-dementia/). Music in Mind is a live, improvisation and music-therapy based programme for people living with dementia which has been successfully implemented in community settings and care homes in the North West of England since 2012. The training element of Music in Mind, Music in Mind Training, has been the focus of this NIHR SSCR study and it is comprised of two elements in a 20-week pattern of delivery: i) Weekly provision of face-to-face participatory group music-making sessions for care home residents living with dementia, co-facilitated by professional musicians and care home staff; and ii) Fortnightly online reflective training sessions for care home staff, featuring synchronous and asynchronous learning (i.e., virtual meetings with musicians, and independent study using digital resources).
The training is delivered by freelance professional musicians and music therapists contracted by Manchester Camerata. The four key mechanisms of change we identified in the study are: i) Collaboration; ii) Shared Values; iii) Respect and Validation; iv) Openness and Reflection. It is these key mechanisms, and the intersections within and between their supporting properties and processes, that sit at the heart of the main (complex) Theory of Change Model (see Box 5) but are represented in each of the more accessible versions of the model.
