Dimana Georgieva is the Programme Manager for a charity called Music for my Mind. The charity helps people with dementia to create free music playlists through their website.

In this blog, she shares insights from their online study, ‘Generating and using personalised music playlists to improve behavioural and psychological symptoms in people with dementia: a feasibility study.’ 

The study is recruiting participants from across the UK through Join Dementia Research until July 2025.

Music for my Mind

Music for my Mind is a charity that was set up in Hertfordshire in 2016. Our goal is to help people living with dementia, to improve their quality of life and wellbeing through the use of personalised playlists. 

I think we all know how important music can be. It can improve our mood, it can bring back memories and it can often rebuild connections with family members and we’ve seen that time and time again. It can have a powerful effect on people who have memory loss or are living with dementia. 

Our goal is that everyone living with dementia in the UK should have access to their favourite music as part of their standard of care.

What the study involves

The study that we have available through Join Dementia Research is looking at adding to the growing evidence base of the powerful effect of personalised music. We want to see how exactly it impacts quality of life, as well as the behaviour and psychological symptoms associated with dementia. 

On the study, participants are asked to complete a brief questionnaire, based on which we  create a playlist of up to 30 songs for them within about 15 minutes. We ask them questions about where they grew up and their favourite music. We focus on songs from their teenage years. This is known as the ‘reminiscence bump’, as it is considered the period of life where we remember popular music the best. The study is completely online. Anyone with dementia, a cognitive impairment or memory problems in the UK can participate. 

Participants are then asked to complete 2 online surveys. The first is about how they found using the playlist tool and if there are any ways we can improve it. The second focuses on the effects of the music, such as whether it improves their mood or stimulated any memories. 

What we hope to achieve

The results that we have been getting so far are incredible. They support the hypothesis that music can impact mood, calm anxiety and focus people’s attention. This can help greatly with symptoms often associated with dementia such as agitation and distress. 

We are excited to be able to share that data more widely soon. It will also allow us to show policymakers and care representatives that tools like this should become an essential part of dementia care.

Using Join Dementia Research 

When we began the study, we found it difficult to recruit participants. We are only a small charity and have a limited reach with people across the country. In 2021, we found out about Join Dementia Research through Alzheimer’s Society and immediately made contact to get the study on the platform. 

We have now recruited more than 300 participants that have come to our study from Join Dementia Research. It is a great way to reach a much wider audience than through our website and word of mouth alone. 

Get involved

I would encourage any researchers working within the dementia space to use this platform. It is easy to use and helps greatly with recruitment. I would also encourage the public to sign up to Join Dementia Research. Whether you have dementia or not, there are so many studies you can take part in to help understand the condition and find new ways to care for it. 

To find out if you are eligible to take part in a dementia study, sign in to your Join Dementia Research account. Or, if you are not already registered, sign up today.