Efficacy of Musical Interventions in Dementia: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Although musical interventions have recently gained popularity as a non-pharmacological treatment in dementia, there is still insufficient evidence of their effectiveness. To investigate this issue, a single-center randomized controlled trial was conducted with forty-eight patients with Alzheimer's disease or mixed dementia to compare the effects of music versus cooking interventions in the emotional, cognitive, and behavioral domain, as well as on professional caregiver distress. Each intervention lasted four weeks (two one-hour sessions a week). Multi-component evaluations (with blind assessors) were conducted before, during, and after the interventions to assess their short and long-term effects (up to four weeks post interventions). Analyses revealed that both music and cooking interventions led to positive changes in the patients' emotional state and decreased the severity of their behavioral disorders, as well as reduced caregiver distress. However, no benefit on the cognitive status of the patients was seen. While results did not demonstrate a specific benefit of music on any of the considered measures, the present study suggests the efficacy of two pleasant non-pharmacological treatments in patients with moderate to severe dementia. Our findings highlight the potential of such interventions in improving the well-being of patients living in residential care, as well as reducing caregiver distress.

Effects of music and music therapy on mood in neurological patients

“…improved emotional and behavioral functioning in the same way [65,67,69] . Characteristics of the studies and main results have been summarized in Table 1.…”

“…Eleven studies assessed the effects of music and MT on dementia [60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70] . Eight studies employed a relational approach [60][61][63][64][65][68][69][70] based either on active or receptive techniques or a combination of both of them.…”

“…Eight studies employed a relational approach [60][61][63][64][65][68][69][70] based either on active or receptive techniques or a combination of both of them. Two studies concerned music listening interventions [62,67] and one study adopted a rehabilitative approach [66] .…”

“…Improvements in BPDS (P = 0.004) and caregiver distress (P = 0.003) Guètin et al [62] RCT (3) [63] RCT (3) Cooke et al [64] RCT (3) [65] CCT (0) [66] RCT ( No effects on mood. Improvements (P < 0.05) for MPI, MPD, attentional matrices, ADL, SVAM, and GMP Janata [67] RCT (3) [68] RCT (2) [69] RCT (2) Chu et al [70] RCT ( Raglio A et al . Effects of music therapy on mood brain, the whole emotional, motivational, and affective state of the person will be altered [88,89] .…”

Non-Pharmalogical Interventions towards Behavioural and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia—An Integrated Literature Review

“…Group therapy has also been shown to result in a significant decrease in agitation, as well as an improvement in the overall mood of people with dementia and reduced the severity of behavioral disorders [14] [15].…”