Dementia and Alzheimer disease, in England and Wales, are currently the leading cause of death for men and women aged 80 years and over. Dementia and Alzheimer disease has replaced ischemic heart diseases as the leading cause of death, in part because people are living longer, there is a better understanding of dementia, and improved diagnosis is also likely to have helped increased reporting of dementia as cause of death on certificates (Office for National Stratistics, 2015).
Dementia refers to a variety of diseases that are characterized by a progressive cognitive and overall decline. There is no cure for dementia, but culture and art-led programmes have been recurrent in literature as particularly beneficial strategies to improving the lives of people with dementia and their caregivers (formal and informal) (Camic, Baker, & Tischler, 2015; Rosenberg, 2009). It has been shown that cultural and artistic engagement can lead to a decrease in depression (Musella, et al., 2009), as well as an increase in positive feelings such as enthusiasm and enjoyment (MacPhersona, Birdab, Andersonab, Davisa, & Blair, 2009), and specially an improvement of subjective wellbeing of people with a diagnosis of dementia and their carers (Kinney & Rentz, 2005).
In 2012, National Museums Liverpool (NML), with funding from the Department of Health (UK), created House of Memories as a museums-led dementia awareness training programme that provides dementia carers (formal and informal) with resources to support people to live well with the condition. This programme uses museum collections as conversation starters in light of reminiscence therapy techniques.
Within the UK there is growing momentum around arts and cultural commissioning within social and public services, illustrated by a propensity of referral schemes such as ‘arts on prescription’. In this context, reminiscence therapy techniques have become increasingly popular within the museum field, with numerous projects that have been shown to have therapeutic value, and cognitive benefits for people with dementia (cf. Goulding, 2013; Windle, et al., 2014; Young, Camic, & Tischler, 2015; Chatterjee & Noble, 2013).
House of Memories began as a full-day museums-based training intervention combining dramatic set pieces, forum theatre, interactive facilitation, museum and gallery tours, reminiscence therapy techniques and museum education activities. The programme is supplemented by training resources including the My House of Memories app, which can be downloaded for use in a range of settings. The programme has also been adapted and developed for delivery in different professional environments, and with several national and international partner museums.
The House of Memories Family Carers’ Awareness Day, designed specifically for family carers and community volunteers, addresses the fact that dementia is not an isolated condition, it affects the whole community, with special incidence on family caregivers (Lynch, et al., 2009). Caring for someone with dementia can be associated with higher levels of depression and isolation (Schulz & Martire, 2004). Despite the importance of family members as a resource for people with dementia (Department of Health, 2009 ) it is not uncommon that informal carers are perceived as ‘silent patients’, once their own health and subjective wellbeing is second to the one of the person they care for (Alzheimer's Society, 2016).
In this sense, this study sought to develop an empirical understanding of the impact of House of Memories Family Carers’ Awareness Dayacross 4 museums on the subjective wellbeing of 50 participating
dementia carers and the subsequent perception of their 'culture of care'; as well as to understand how the process of engaging with museum collections in the social and physical context of a museum, and with the My House of Memories app impacts on caregivers perceptions and uses of non-medical approaches and museum-led dementia care.
