Musikken i mitt liv. Musikk som helseressurs i hverdagen og ved sykdom. En kvalitativ intervjuundersøkelse om musikkens betydning for en eldre dame og tidligere pasient ved en avdeling for alderspsykiatri

Abstract - The thesis is an exploratory, qualitative study concerning the corrolation between elderly health/wellbing and music. Through two qualitative interviews with an elderly woman and former patient at a geriatric psychiatric unit, the link between music and health is investigated. The study provides a description of the informant's use of music in everyday life and how music listening can be understood as a resource for wellbeing. This is discussed on the basis of four aspects related to wellbeing and music as proposed by Ruud (2001): vitality, action, competence, belonging and meaning. Also, the informant's experiences of music during a stay in a geriatric psychiatric unit are described - participation in a music therapy group, as well as music session led by a nurse, respecively. In this way both patient experiences and everyday life experiences with music are described and studied. The thesis discusses the individual's knowledge and use of music in a health-related context where health is seen as a fluid and non-fixed state, and it is suggested that the individual's music practice should be understood as a resource that can have great validity for wellbeing and health, not only in everyday life but also when ill and staying at a treatment institution. Keywords: geriatric psychiatry, elderly health, elderly wellbeing, everyday music, music listening, music therap