CULTURE CLUB

Meet the musician tuning in to the needs of Liverpool’s Chinese community

As Xiaoxiao Hou and her mother watched dementia wrench her beloved grandmother from their lives there were moments when they were reunited through music.

“She would respond to songs from her past that perhaps evoked memories”, says Xiaoxiao, who is herself an accomplished musician and PhD student at the University of Liverpool.

News of her grandmother’s death came during lockdown, so she couldn’t go home to China to comfort her family. “My mother had kept it from me so I wouldn’t worry, but then I worried for her, she’d devoted her life to caring for my grandmother and it had taken its toll on her.“

Xiaoxiao is struck by the contrast in perceptions of health and social support between the UK and China. “In China and in Chinese communities here, people rarely ask for outside help; families see it as their responsibility alone to care for their families and it can be a struggle.”

Xiaoxiao Hou.

Joel Goodman

Her own experience sparked a desire to gather and share research and knowledge for agencies working together to support Chinese people with dementia in the North West and beyond. She drew on the subject that her grandmother loved and that she herself knows best – music.

“The links between music and dementia aren’t new, but the choice of music needs to connect with someone’s personal memories. Even as a musician I don’t know any Chinese music from other generations. There’s a huge lack of knowledge among practitioners and music therapists.

We may have different cultures but we have the same emotions.

“They need to be more familiar with the music, culture, beliefs and challenges of these communities so they can adapt their practices. It could be simply that the elders aren’t familiar with technology. We need to highlight the barriers that prevent people seeking help and find ways to overcome them.

Xiaoxiao is keen to develop a communal ‘playlist for life’ that can be used to make connections with communities and she’s keen that the research will be used outside of academia.

“We’ll work with Chinese wellbeing organisations to create materials they can use as bridges to help and support. We may have different cultures, but we all share the same emotions.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION

on Chinese community organisations visit: liverpoolchinatown.co.uk

If you would like to be part of the research project, contact: xiaoxiao.hou@liverpool.ac.uk

Chinese wellbeing: chinesewellbeing.co.uk

Playlist for life: playlistforlife.org.uk