Dementia, cognitive frailty and cognitive decline are amongst the greatest challenges of modern times and have a major impact on individuals, families, societies and economies (Livingston et al., 2020). While there are currently no effective treatments or cures for dementia-related conditions, there is enormous scope to improve cognitive health and quality of life for people with dementia.

By developing and implementing approaches that address known modifiable risk-factors, the decline of cognitive health and the onset of dementia may be delayed or prevented (Livingston et al., 2020), and with the right policies, services and technologies, and changes in health-related behaviours, it should be possible to help people live healthier, active lives as they grow older.

The Music and Dementia Care Network (MDC) was created to explore music-based interventions for dementia care and how they can have a positive impact on the well-being, health, cognition and social participation of older people living with dementia, both in acute care settings, and in long-term care and other environments. The first year of our project will map out directions for future research and innovation in the development of Music Based Interventions (MBIs) in dementia care and cognitive health.

MDC is an international and interdisciplinary collaboration bringing together researchers from backgrounds including gerontology, neuroscience, music psychology, music therapy, health, design, ethics, and music technology.