2018 Alzheimer's Association Research Fellowship to Promote Diversity (AARF-D)

Beyond Listening: A Music-Based Caregiver Intervention

Can an effective, music-based therapy be delivered by a family caregiver in the home for people living with dementia?

Kendra Ray, Ph.D.
Menorah Home and Hospital
Brooklyn, NY - United States

Background

As the number of people with Alzheimer's and other dementias are expected to increase over the coming decades, it is important to develop novel methods of caregiving that improve quality-of-life for those living with Alzheimer's and other dementias. Many care facilities use music as an important therapy for those with dementia. Prior work has shown that music enhances well-being and can improve the relationship between caregiver and care recipient. Such therapies are now conducted largely by trained music therapists and other professionals. A few recent studies, however, have found that a music-based treatment may also be effective when administered by family or spousal caregivers in the home at impacting quality of life.

Research Plan

For their research grant, Kendra Ray, Ph.D., and colleagues will design and test a home-based music intervention for people with Alzheimer's and other dementias and their caregivers. This program will incorporate singing and movement, as well as listening to relaxing music with the goal of helping to promote pleasant interactions between people living with dementia and their caregivers. After developing the program, the investigators will recruit 60 couples (spouse with individual living with Alzheimer's and their caregiver). First, the caregivers will receive a once-weekly, one-hour training session over a six-week period to learn the program. They will then administer the therapy to their spouses for three to six months. Lastly, the caregivers will be interviewed to determine the treatment's effectiveness for both the individual living with dementia and for them. Dr. Ray and colleagues will use this information to assess how their intervention affected such factors as communication between the couple, symptoms of agitation and depression among the individual living with dementia, and the overall impact on the caregiver.

Impact

If successful, Dr. Ray's effort could lead to more extensive studies of this home-based music therapy based dementia intervention. Ultimately, such treatments could offer easy-to-use, cost-effective options to drug therapy — options that strengthen family ties and delay admission to long-term care facilities for people living with Alzheimer's and other dementias.