University of Stirling research has found music and movement can have a positive impact on the health and wellbeing of care home residents.

The 12-week study, conducted in partnership with wellbeing, arts and fitness company, danceSing Care, followed 47 residents at 10 Balhousie Care Group homes.

Residents joined the online danceSing Care sessions four times per week, where they were encouraged to take part in a variety of fun and meaningful activities, including everything from chair and standing fitness, music and singing, bespoke Memory Lane radio shows and musical concerts.

Balhousie reported the collective mood of residents visibly improved during the sessions. Benefits and improvements were seen in a number of areas spanning anxiety and depression, stress and loneliness, sleep satisfaction and indications of frailty such as appetite and unintentional weight loss.

Care home staff also benefited with team members reporting improved mood, physical health and job satisfaction.

Karen Johnson, quality director at Balhousie Care Group, said: “As a care home operator we see first hand the benefits of music and exercise to our residents. However, to have this tracked, documented and researched to such an extent is valuable both to us and the whole social care sector. Our homes thoroughly enjoyed being part of this pilot project and feasibility study, and we hope to see such programmes extended to more care homes across the country.”

Natalie Garry, from danceSing Care, said: “The danceSing Care experience has been developed not just for people in care themselves, but for the caregivers too. It can create solid change and help create a happy vibrant community with a core of wellbeing and improving fitness. We know anecdotally that our music and movement resources positively impact mental health, emotional wellbeing, physical condition, and improved socialisation and were excited to team up with academics from the University of Stirling and Balhousie Care Group to prove this. Even with the restrictions of Covid, we’ve been able to launch this important research project which will positively impact the provision of music and movement resources for older people.”