Home is Where the Heart is – Individualized, Culture-Centered Music Therapy with (mildly Dement) Elderly from the Former Dutch Indies
 

Author:

Monique van Bruggen-Rufi

Abstract:
In this presentation the author will present her research on the benefits of individualized, culture-centered music therapy with (mildly dement) elderly from the former Dutch Indies.
The presentation will start with a short description of the historical, social and cultural backgrounds of the people who are born and raised in the Dutch Indies, a former colony oftThe Netherlands. More than 300.000 of them moved (back) to The Netherlands in the period between 1945 – 1960. Along with these people different specific musical styles (gamelan, krontjong) came to the Netherlands. During the presentation you will listen to the music that was and still is so important to these people.
Most of the first generation have already died, the rest have reached the last stage of their live. The second generation, and even the third generation, are often struggling with their parents past.
This knowledge, combined with a thorough literature research, has been used to determine which music therapy method is most effective to treat this target group. You will learn about this method, which is a combination of individualized music therapy (based on the theory of L.A. Gerdner) and a cultural approach. In order to confirm the method in practice, an investigative research was performed among 12 participants of the selected target group by subjecting them to individualized, culture-centered music therapy over a period of 12 weeks. By making use of behavioral observation questionnaires the results of 3 measurements (pre-measurement, middle measurement and final measurement) were mapped out and analyzed. Results will be presented.

Biographical details:
Monique van Bruggen-Rufi is music therapist who herself was born just after her parents moved to the Netherlands from the former Dutch Indies. The ethnic music and the guitar-playing were sucked in with her mother’s milk. To honor (the generation of) her parents Monique wrote her bachelor-thesis about this subject.
Monique works full-time as a music therapist for two different nursing-homes in Enschede (Bruggerbosch) and Apeldoorn (Atlant Zorggroep). The first is specialized in (early) dementia care and Korsakov, the second in treating patients who suffer from Huntington disease as well as Korsakov.