Aging & Social Change: Eleventh Interdisciplinary Conference

Abstract

Dementia constitutes one of the main public health threats affecting seniors. Pharmacological approaches are limited by their undesirable secondary effects. Music therapy is a possibility that deserves attention. However, there are contradictory reports on its effectiveness to treat dementia. This study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of a music therapy-informed program using a validated behavioral observation measure method (Music in Dementia Assessment Scales, MiDAS) on a relatively homogeneous (education and socio-economic status) population of diagnosed dementia patients (n= 23, average age = 88.6 years old). This study demonstrates that exposure to 8 sessions of music therapy consisting of interactive sessions with a string quartet produced significant positive increases in mood and engagement during each music therapy session. The magnitude of this response was significantly larger than the baseline measures and was also constant throughout the treatment program trial. There was limited mean change in behavioral ratings for any time of the day rating over the course of the study, although significant heterogeneity was consistently seen in individuals’ scores over time. The surprisingly consistent positive responses obtained during each of the music therapy sessions contrast with other published studies where large variability is reported. We suggest that the consistency in our results may be due to the relatively homogeneous population of patients. This study should serve in the design and interpretation of future studies.