About

Professor Jennie M Gubner is engaged in research and teaching that explores the intersection of music and memory, particularly focusing on the impact of music on individuals living with dementia and other cognitive impairments. Her work involves directing courses such as the Music & Memory course at Indiana University, where undergraduate students create films documenting the therapeutic effects of personalized music playlists for older adults with dementia. These projects highlight how music can reconnect individuals to their past, evoke memories, and foster socialization and communication despite cognitive challenges. Through collaborations with care facilities like Jill's House and the Better Day Club in Bloomington, Indiana, Professor Gubner's work emphasizes the power of music to improve quality of life for people with dementia, stroke, and related conditions. The student films produced under her guidance document real-life stories of individuals benefiting from music therapy, illustrating the emotional and cognitive connections facilitated by music. This body of work contributes to public scholarship and community engagement by raising awareness about the potential of music to support memory and identity in aging populations.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Gerontology
• Nursing
• Psychiatry

Selected publications

• “I Aim to Fulfill My Promise”: Dementia Caregiving from the Perspective of Spouses and Partners

  Journal of Applied Gerontology · 2025-01-09 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  In the United States, spouses provide 17% of in-home care for people living with dementia. Negative impacts of dementia care on spouses/partners are well-documented, but we lack information about the holistic experience for spouses/partners. We conducted a secondary thematic analysis of data from two observational studies about everyday music engagement and dementia care at home. In this paper, we report on experiences of dementia care from the perspectives of spouses/partners. Participants included 15 people living with dementia (20% women, 20% people of color); 15 spouses/partners (73% women, 27% people of color). Individual experiences varied, but underlying patterns emerged: 1) Caregiving approaches were grounded in loyalty and commitment 2) Spouses / partners struggled to accept changes occurring with dementia progression, and 3) As verbal skills diminished, spouses/partners found meaning in small gestures. Spousal/partner dementia care poses unique challenges and rewards. Identifying underlying motivations and sources of strength can support the caregiving experience.

  PublisherDOI

• “MY LIFE WAS EASY; HIS LIFE TAKES ALL OF MY TIME”: THE INTERPLAY OF SUPPORT STRUCTURES AND DEMENTIA CARE NEEDS IN THE HOME

  Innovation in Aging · 2024-12-01

  articleOpen access

  Abstract We have limited literature about the lived realities of in-home dementia care. Using data from two ethnographic studies of music and everyday life in the homes of people living with dementia, we investigated the relationship between care support resources and multimorbidity care needs. Data included demographics, measures, fieldnotes and semi-structured interview transcripts. We inductively coded transcripts using ATLAS.ti and triangulated findings across data sources. N=83 (38 people living with dementia, 34 family care partners, 11 professionals). Participation varied from a single phone interview to 8 in-home visits over two years. Participants identified complex mismatches between resources and care needs, particularly in ambulatory stages of dementia or with care partner multimorbidity. In contrast, participants identified spirituality as a powerful motivator for providing care. Participants identified adequate social support and financial resources as critical. The findings underscore the need for nuanced approaches to interventions, acknowledging both positive and negative aspects of caregiving.

  PublisherDOI

• Music Engagement as Part of Everyday Life in Dementia Caregiving Relationships at Home

  The Gerontologist · 2023-12-30 · 5 citations

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Emerging evidence suggests music-based interventions can improve the well-being of people living with dementia, but little is known about the ways in which music might support dementia caregiving relationships as part of everyday life at home. This study examined music engagement in the context of daily life to identify patterns of music engagement and potential targets for the design of music-based interventions to support well-being. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: This ethnographic, in-home study of people living with dementia and their family and professional care partners used methods from ethnomusicology, including semistructured interviews and in-home participant observation with a focus on music engagement. RESULTS: A total of 21 dyads were purposively recruited for diversity in terms of gender, ethnicity/race/heritage, caregiving relationship, and music experiences. Despite participants' diverse music preferences, 3 distinct music engagement patterns emerged. (a) Professional care partners intentionally integrated music listening and singing into daily life as part of providing direct care. (b) Family care partners, who had prior dementia care nursing experience or family music traditions, integrated music into daily life in ways that supported their personal relationships. (c) In contrast, family care partners, who lacked dementia care experience and had high levels of caregiver burden, disengaged from prior music-making. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: The distinct music engagement patterns reflect different needs on the part of dyads. It is important to continue to support dyads who engage in music daily and to consider developing music-based interventions to support well-being among dyads who have become disengaged from music.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Equity and balance in applied dementia research: A charter of conduct and checklist for global collaborations

  International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry · 2022-05-23 · 7 citations

  article

  Key points Equity and balance in international partnerships between high‐ and low‐and‐middle income countries for applied dementia research may guard against research imperialism. International partnerships should be transparent, fair, inclusive, sustainable and involve bidirectional learning. International partnerships should include capacity and capability building for dementia research. International partnerships should include key stakeholders across the dementia community including people with lived experience, care partners, and civic society.

  PublisherDOI

• “A Week from Now, Will I Remember? Maybe…Maybe not”

  2022-10-18

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  For three semesters, I taught an undergraduate service-learning ethnomusicology course that trained students to build personalized music playlists for older adults living with cognitive impairment and to document their experiences through short films intended for public circulation. In this chapter, I reflect on my experiences navigating ethical questions of representation when crafting digital stories about individuals only able to consent to participation by proxy. The multiple ethical subjectivities I explore, alongside my own, are those of the individuals living with dementia, their families, my students, and the staff and directors of local dementia care facilities.

  PublisherDOI

• Meaningful Activities and Sources of Meaning for Community-Dwelling People Living with Dementia

  Journal of the American Medical Directors Association · 2021 · 16 citations

  • Medicine
  • Gerontology
  • Nursing
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• American Music Documentary: Five Case Studies of Ciné-Ethnomusicology

  Ethnomusicology · 2021-10-01

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Book Review| October 01 2021 American Music Documentary: Five Case Studies of Ciné-Ethnomusicology American Music Documentary: Five Case Studies of Ciné-Ethnomusicology. Benjamin J. Harbert. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2018. xiv, 300 pp., illustrations, notes, works cited, index. Jennie Gubner Jennie Gubner University of Arizona Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Ethnomusicology (2021) 65 (3): 617–619. https://doi.org/10.5406/ethnomusicology.65.3.0617 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation Jennie Gubner; American Music Documentary: Five Case Studies of Ciné-Ethnomusicology. Ethnomusicology 1 January 2021; 65 (3): 617–619. doi: https://doi.org/10.5406/ethnomusicology.65.3.0617 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveUniversity of Illinois PressEthnomusicology Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Copyright 2021 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois2021 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

  PublisherDOI

• Alive Inside

  Ethnomusicology · 2020-07-01

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Transforming Undergraduate Student Perceptions of Dementia through Music and Filmmaking

  Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2020-05-01 · 12 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  BACKGROUND: With nearly 6 million people with dementia (PWD) in the United States, there is a critical need to build an interprofessional dementia workforce. Among the novel approaches to expanding a new workforce, music and the arts show promise for engaging students and trainees. To understand how and why the arts affect attitudes about and engagement with PWD, we examined a service-learning general education undergraduate course centering on music, filmmaking, and dementia. METHODS: The undergraduate course curriculum brought students to meet with PWD in dementia care settings, build personalized music playlists, coproduce short films about PWD, and write reflective essays. Two researchers independently completed inductive thematic analysis of the films, essays, and course evaluations. Differences were reconciled by consensus. RESULTS: A total of 52 students from three classes completed the course; 24 (46%) were majoring in health sciences. Three key themes emerged: (1) Music helps students connect with people living with dementia in meaningful ways; (2) filmmaking offers students the opportunity to share unique, person-centered stories about dementia and music that empower the voices of PWD; and (3) reflective writing enables students to process new experiences and lessons learned. Unexpectedly, 29 students (56%) reported continued engagement with PWD in their careers, families, and communities after course completion. CONCLUSION: This study identifies reproducible ways in which undergraduate arts courses thematically focused on dementia not only transform student perceptions about dementia but change the ways in which those students choose to engage with PWD following course completion. Arts and music departments may represent an untapped resource for building a geriatrics workforce. J Am Geriatr Soc 68:1083-1089, 2020.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Meaningful Activities Among Vulnerable Older Adults Living With Dementia

  Innovation in Aging · 2020-12-01

  articleOpen access

  Abstract This paper examines self-identified meaningful activities in the daily lives of 21 vulnerable older adults living with dementia and the people who care for them at home (dyads). Using ethnographic observation and interviews, we asked the dyads to identify which aspects of daily life were most meaningful and how these activities changed as dementia progressed. Results ranged from pleasure-seeking activities like cigarette smoking and eating, to spiritual or mindfulness activities like hymn-singing, prayer and tai chi. Dyads identified specific examples of the ways in which meaningful activities and meaning-making both persisted and adapted throughout the progression of dementia. Using these identifiable moments of meaning-making as a starting point for inquiry, we explore underlying questions of how to adapt to dementia progression while retaining meaning in relationships.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Theresa A. Allison

  San Francisco VA Health Care System

  17 shared

• Alexander K. Smith

  San Francisco VA Health Care System

  11 shared

• Agustín Ibáñez

  Adolfo Ibáñez University

  10 shared

• Kenneth E. Covinsky

  University of California, San Francisco

  7 shared

• Krista L. Harrison

  7 shared

• Deborah E. Barnes

  7 shared

• Kevin Pham

  Auburn University

  6 shared

• Julene K. Johnson

  5 shared

Labs

• Jennie M Gubner LabPI

Education

• PhD, Ethnomusicology , Ethnomusicology

  University of California Los Angeles

  2014