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The effect of music therapy on reducing agitation in patients with Alzheimer’s disease in Shahryar city nursing home

Authors

Zare, Maryam, Ebrahimi, Azizeh Afkham, Birashk, Behrouz

Journal

Advances in Cognitive Science, Volume: 11, No.: 2, Pages.: 55-62

Year of Publication

2009

Abstract

Objective: One of the most important challenges in present-day societies is the growing number of patients with Alzheimer’s disease and the related problems afflicted upon the patients, their families, and organizations providing health services. Agitation is one of the behavioral problems present in Alzheimer’s. To overcome these behavioral problems, many pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical remedies have been provided, among which music therapy appears to be one of the most effective and least harmful. Methods: Therefore, the aim of the present study was to examine the effect of music therapy on reducing agitation in patients with Alzheimer’s, and to determine the best interventional method from among the four methods of individual listening to preferred music, group listening to preferred music, group listening to non-preferred music, and group singing of preferred music. For this purpose, 26 subjects were selected by convenience sampling from among subjects introduced by the Behzisti Organization of Shahryar, and using DSM-IV and MMSE. The subjects were then randomly allocated to control (10 individuals) and experimental (16 individuals, with 4 subjects in each subgroup) groups. Results: The intervention was carried out using a semi-experimental pretest-posttest study; and independent and dependent t-test was used to analyze data obtained from Cohen-Mansfield agitation inventory. Different types of the aforementioned music therapies were administered to the subjects for one month, 5 days a week and 30-45 minutes per day with the following results: all types of music therapy were effective in reducing agitation in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved). (journal abstract)

Keywords

agitation, alzheimer’s disease, music therapy, nursing home, nursing homes

Types of Dementia

Alzheimer’s Disease

Types of Study

Randomised Controlled Trial

Type of Outcomes

Behaviour

Settings

Nursing Homes

Type of Interventions

Non-pharmacological Treatment

Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions

Arts and Music Interventions (including Art and Music Therapy)