The effects of group music therapy on agitation levels of people with Alzheimer's disease

This study investigated possible long-term effects of group music therapy onnthe levels of agitation manifested by nursing home residents with Alzheimer'sndisease. Thirty experimental group participants and thirty control group participantsnwere recruited for the study. Experimental group participants were invited to attendngroup music therapy sessions, held weekly for at least 42 weeks in one year. Controlngroup participants received their usual nursing home interventions and did not havenaccess to music therapy services. Participants' agitation levels were measured fiventimes during the one-year period using the Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventoryn(Cohen-Mansfield, Marx, a Rosenthal, 1989). The null hypotheses proposed thatngroup music therapy participants with Alzheimer's disease do not manifest 1) fewer,n2) less frequent, or 3) less severe types of agitated behaviours than people withnAlzheimer's disease who are not receiving music therapy treatment. A repeatednmeasures multivariate analysis of variance (MAN OVA) did not reveal significantndifferences between the groups in the number, frequency and type of agitatednbehaviours manifested over time. However, univariate test results showed ansignificant effect (p l 0.05) of music therapy on the degree of verbal aggressivenbehaviour displayed over time, suggesting that group music therapy participants werenmore stable and predictable than control participants in their manifestation of thisnagitation subtype. Results also indicated that the group music therapy participants'nrise to peak agitation occurred three months later than the control group's peaknagitation level. Study findings highlight the need for enabling self-expression andnmonitoring levels of engagement in music therapy groups with this population.nFurther studies exploring the long-term effects of music therapy on the well-being ofnpeople with Alzheimer's disease are recommended.n