TITLE:
The effect of individualized music on agitation for home-dwelling persons with dementia
AUTHORS:
Heeok Park
KEYWORDS:
Music; Agitation; Dementia
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Nursing,
Vol.3 No.6,
October
31,
2013
ABSTRACT:
Purpose:
The purpose of this study was to test the effect of individualized music on
agitation for homedwelling patients with dementia. Method: One group pre-post
test was used for research design and a total of 26 subjects participated in
this study. Individualized music intervention was subjects’ listening to their
preferred music for 30 minutes prior to peak agitation time twice a week for a
total of four sessions. The subject’s agitation levels were measured for three
different points: thirty minutes prior to listening to music, 30 minutes while
listening to the music, and after listening to the music throughout the 4 sessions.
To measure the agitation level, the modified CohenMansfield Agitation Inventory
was used. A Paired ttest was used for data analysis. Results: Most subjects
were female (73.1%), Caucasian (92.4%), Protestant (50%), and independent
activity (53.8%). The mean of the subjects’ MMSE scores was 8.08 (8.17). The most
favorite music types included country/western music (31.0%), religious music
(26.9%), and big band (26.9%). Agitation level decreased while listening to the
music compared to the baseline (t = 3.70, p