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Introduction
A picture can tell a thousand words and countless stories but combining a picture with music can make a complete memory that floods the senses. My second service activity was with Priscilla, an older adult woman in her 70s, on April 5th, 2024. This activity involved someone sharing a photo album or scrapbook or memory book and being given the opportunity to share their stories from the pictures and trinkets inside while the music therapist or person with them creates a music playlist of songs associated with the photos and memories. This activity is meant to help address social isolation in older adults and to give them an outlet to share their stories, experiences and memories.
The Experience Thus Far
Thus far I have accomplished a lot in learning about the experiences of Priscilla. I also have a better understanding of someone leading a conversation and where their limits might be if they are the one doing most of the talking. I have been effective in my goal of empowering an individual to share what they would like to and feel heard. Some things that went well this time were when I showed similar photos of places that Priscilla had been. This was not in my task analysis but I will add it next time as that connection got a very positive response. I believe this activity was more beneficial than activity one because Priscilla knew what to expect. I was clearer in giving expectations of the activity and my time management, as the facilitator, of this activity was more well thought out. Songs were implemented throughout the shared experiences instead of at the end and going back through. This made the activity feel more fluid and snip-its of songs were played to give the sense of a complete picture. I could better understand the pictures based off of the song and stories Priscilla was telling, which made everything feel more complete. What I could have done better was take the cognitive pressure off Priscilla and allow her to not have to talk the whole time if she didn’t want to. Asking more directed questions and doing a little more self sharing might have been beneficial in this regard.
My Assumptions Thus Far
My assumptions this time were that photos would be incredibly beneficial in jogging memories and therefore I wouldn’t need to do much facilitation and I assumed everyone would have a photo album of some kind. The activity could have been better implemented if I did not make the first assumption of photos sparking memories. Some photos were better at promoting memories and others did not have much of a story without inquiries. I have learned that with older adults regardless of diagnosis or memory related issues (or lack thereof) that there still needs to be some sort of guiding path. A remedy for this would have been the questions that were retroactively added as step #19 in Activity #2.
My Knowledge Thus Far
I think I did a pretty good job of relating multiple means of representation to the facilitation of this activity. I allowed for plenty of autonomy, allowing Priscilla to pick and choose which photos she would like to talk about, tell stories about, and which to add a song to better understand the memory. I also did well supporting and motivating, allowing Priscilla space and time to share. All of these are principles discussed in class and in UDL. I have improved in my understanding of independent older adults and my understanding of another individuals’ lived experiences. It has been really beneficial for me to hear a song paired with a picture, it gives me a better understanding of a memory and has allowed me to be more empathetic to certain situations. I found that I am still working on my skills as a facilitator. Though my expectations going into the activity were more clearly defined, my facilitation during still needs work. I can improve this by writing a script for myself, so I have prepared questions ready to go. Something that this activity has really made me work on is my active listening skills. This is a newer skill for me, but it has been fun to develop over the course of this project. I think the script and adding questions will help me expand on this skill.
My Actions Thus Far
I am considering attempting this activity again, with a different individual, with more prompted questions while still incorporating the clear expectations that I learned from the facilitation of activity one. I think it would be helpful to be able to build on the idea of connectedness. I would like to try a similar format of this activity again but more of a conversation, making it not only a story telling experience for the older adult but also an experience about connecting to one another. This would also be more in line with my original goal of my project: "to address social isolation in older adults".
Feedback from my Community Partner
1) What worked well for you in this activity?
For my feedback portion, I received it about 2 hours after the implementation of the activity on April 5th 2024. Priscilla shared that she would liked adding more information to the story, the music became a part of the story and it was clearer to see. She shared that the music came into being as a result of telling the story. "I enjoyed it, it brought back lovely memories."
2 & 3) What can I do better in my next activity & what would you like more of?
Questions 2 & 3 were combined into one question as what I could do better was something that she wanted more of during the activity. Priscilla shared that she enjoyed when our paths crossed. For example, I mentioning the beach that’s east of Jacksonville (Neptune Beach) that she had also been to and frequnetly went to a place nearby in St. Augustine. She shared that she would like a little more back and forth in connecting to make the experience better. Some quotes that highlight this point are as follows: "Being able to connect like that, oh I loved it", "It was cool to see places that you went that I had been to too, it made me feel more connected".
Priscilla also mentioned, for the individual participating in this activity (not the facilitator), it might be helpful to look at the scrapbook/photo album ahead of time.
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