Table A1.
Summary of studies on music intervention for dementia-related diseases.
| Author | Outcome Focus Area | Dementia Alzheimer’s |
Intervention Details & Measurement Frequency | No. Participants Control Group (CG)/ Music Therapy (MT) |
Study Environment & Conductor | Measurement Method/Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moore, 2010 [52] | Apathy, agitation, and appetite | Early to severe Dementia | 3 weeks (25 min, 30 min before lunchtime), twice a week) Recorded familiar music or physical activity (Seated chair exercise and music listening) Music intervention Pre, Post data |
84 (MT and CG) | Residential aged care facility Research assistant |
Measurement scales: Frontal systems behavior scale, Cohen–Mansfield Agitation Inventory (CMAI) Results: Significant changes in apathy and dietary intake but no change in agitation or eating ability |
| Raglio et al., 2010 [51] | Behavioral Symptoms | Severe Dementia | 4 weeks (3 sessions in a month, for 30 min, One-month washout) Music therapy Group MT (3 people in a group) |
60 (30: MT, 30: CG) | Residential aged care facility Facility staffs |
Measurement scales: Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Barthel Index and Neuropsychiatry Inventory (NPI) Results: A decline in behavioral disorder, improve in delusion, agitation, and apathy |
| Sung et al., 2010 [38] | Anxiety | Dementia | 6 weeks (30 min twice a week) Recorded preferred music Music intervention Pre, End of each week data |
52 (29: MT, 23: CG) | Residential aged care facility Facility staffs |
Measurement scale: Rating Anxiety in Dementia (RAID) Result: Lower levels of anxiety |
| Cook et al., 2010 [57] | QOL and Depression | Dementia | 12 weeks (30 min for 3 times in a week) Active, personalized, live music, Reading activity Music intervention Pre, During, Post data |
47 (reading and music groups) | Residential aged care facility Musicians |
Measurement scales: Evaluation of Dementia Quality Life (DQOL), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) Results: A higher level of midpoint QOL, increase in self-esteem and decrease in depression level |
| Lin et al., 2010 [29] | Agitation | Dementia | 12 MT(Twice a week, 30 min MT for 6 weeks) Group MT, active (rhythmical music and slow-tempo instrumental activities, singing, listening, glockenspiel, musical activities and traditional holidays, music creator) Music intervention Pre, Middle, End, one month after MT data |
100 (49: MT, 51: CG) | Residential aged care facility Facility staffs |
Measurement scales: CMAI, Generalized Estimating Equations (GEFs) Results: Reduction in agitation and physical aggressive behavior after beginning MT, reduction in verbal aggressive behaviors only in the middle of MT |
| Stern et al., 2010 [61] | Recognition Ability | Alzheimer’s | 30 min Unfamiliar childhood songs, song lyric or spoken version visual stimuli Music intervention During data |
27 (13: Alzheimer’s, 14: Healthy) | Residential aged care Trained Musician |
Measurement scales: ANOVA memory test Results: No differences between genders, healthy individuals had better recognition ability than patients with Alzheimer’s |
| Ho et al., 2011 [65] | Behavior | Dementia | 4 weeks (Twice a day, during meal time) Recorded calming music Music intervention Pre, Post |
22 (M: 10, F: 12) | Hospital-based residential aged care facility Researcher |
Measurement scale: CMAI Result: Decline in agitation |
| Nair et al., 2011 [53] | Physical aggressiveness, Verbal abuse, Agitation, wandering and Inappropriate sexual advances |
Dementia | 4 weeks (for 4 h) Recorded and Baroque Music Music intervention Pre (2 weeks), During (4 weeks), Post (2 weeks) |
75 (MT and CG) | Residential aged care facility Facility staffs |
Measurement scale: Behavior observation Results: Listening to Baroque music has a negative effect on patient behaviors, a more behavioral disturbance was observed between experimental groups than the control group. |
| Hanser et al., 2011 [26] | Mood and Psychological State | Dementia | 8–20 sessions Favorite music Music therapy Pre, During, Post data |
8 | Residential aged care facility Caregiver |
Measurement scale: Visual Analog Scale (VAS) Results: Both patients and caregivers have a higher level of relaxation, happiness, and comfort after MT |
| Terworth & Probst, 2011 [34] | Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms | Mild to Moderate Dementia | 6 months Group MT (6–10 patients), active(singing, playing an elementary musical instrument, listening to biography of music and Playing game (word-association, puzzle)) Music therapy Pre, Post data |
49 (MT: 26 (M: 3, F: 23), CG: 23 (M: 3, F: 20)) | Residential aged care facility Caregivers |
Measurement scales: Mini-Mental Status Test (MMST), Global Deterioration Scale Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI), GDS, Inventory to Assess Communication, Emotional Expression and Activity in Dementia (ICEA-D) Results: Reduction in agitation, aggression, apathy, and anxiety beside an improvement in communication, emotional expression |
| Janata, 2012 [54] | Agitation and Depression | Moderate and Severe Dementia | 12 weeks (3 h for several times in a day) Recorded and Customized music (Widespread and frequent personalized music) Music intervention Pre, Post data |
38 (25: F, 13: M,19: MT, 19: CG) | Residential aged care facility Music therapist |
Measurement scales: CMAI, NPI, Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia (CSDD), MMSE Results: Reduction in agitation and depression level of patients |
| Vink et al., 2012 [18] | Agitation | Dementia | 4 months (40 min twice a week) Group MT, favorite music or recreational activities Music therapy Daily, Post data |
77 (43: MT, 34: Recreational activities) | Residential aged care facility Trained music therapist |
Measurement scales: CMAI Results: Decline in agitation level during listening to music but after music intervention agitation comes back |
| Vleuten et al., 2012 [63] | Quality of life, Communication skills and mental well-being | Mild and Severe Dementia | 45 min (one or a few songs) Intimate live music Group therapy (10 patients in each group) Music intervention Post data |
45 | Residential aged care facility Professional singers |
Measurement scales: Behavior observation Results: Improvement in human contact, communication skills, observing more positive emotions and less negative emotion |
| Baker et al., 2012 [66] | Anxiety, Depression, Spousal Relationship | Dementia | 6 weeks (20–30 min 3 sessions per week) Active, familiar/preferred/quiet music Music intervention Pre, post data |
5 couples (M: 2, F: 3) | Home Caregivers |
Measurement scales: GDS, Geriatric Anxiety Inventory (GAI), Mutual Communal Behaviors Scale (MCBS), Positive Aspects of Caregiving Questionnaire (PACQ), NPI Results: Improve spouse relationship, satisfaction, enjoyment, and well-being of caregiver, and boost the mood of couples |
| Sakamoto et al., 2013 [50] | Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms | Advanced Dementia | 10 weeks (30 min for once a week) Passive/active, preferred music Music intervention Pre, During, Post data |
39 (3 groups: CG (F: 11, M: 2), passive (F:10, M:3), active (F:11, M:2)) | Residential aged care and Dementia hospital Music facilitator |
Measurement scales: Nerve Index and Faces Scale behavioral, Behavioral Pathology in Alzheimer’s Disease (BEHAVE-AD), Heart rate (HR) Results: Improve in emotional states (Both short and long term), more improve in BPSD among active MT group |
| Park, 2013 [62] | Agitation | Dementia | 4 session (30 min twice a week before peeking of agitation) Favorite music Music intervention Pre, During, Post data |
26 | Residential aged care facility Facility staffs |
Measurement scale: CMAI Results: Decline in agitation level while listening to music but after music intervention agitation comes back |
| Gold, 2014 [70] | Mood and Behavior | Advanced Dementia | 4 months (once in a week) Active, Live music Music therapy 4 days after each MT session, End of MT sessions |
9 | Hospital Researcher |
Measurement scales: Caregiver notes (observation) Result: 8 out of 9 patients showed positive changes |
| Chu et al., 2014 [30] | Depression and Cognition | Dementia | 12 sessions (30 min twice a week) Group therapy, active Music therapy Pre, Middle, End, Post data |
104 (MT, CG) | Residential aged care facility Facility staffs |
Measurement scales: Chinese Version of C-CSDD and Salivary Cortisol, The Chinese version of the MMSE for measuring cognitive function Results: Reduction in depression level, improvement in cognitive function |
| Eggert et al., 2015 [64] | Behavioral Changes | Alzheimer’s Dementia |
image and music: 1–4 weeks, wash out:4 weeks, image and music:4 weeks (1.5 h per week) Group therapy Music intervention Pre, Post data |
24 | Residential aged care facility Facility staffs |
Measurement scales: Individualize Dementia Engagement and Activities Scale tool, Montreal Cognitive Assessment, CMAI Results: Reducing the behavioral disorder |
| Raglio et al., 2014 [17] | Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms (Depression, Anxiety, Apathy, and Cognitive) | Moderate to Severe Dementia | 10 week (20 music 30 min twice a week) Active, individualized music Music intervention Pre, Post data |
120 (3 groups, CG, MT, and Individualized listening to music) | Residential aged care facility Facility staffs |
Measurement scales: NPI, CSDD Results: No significant changes in behavioral and psychological symptoms |
| Schall et al., 2015 [28] | communication behavior and emotional well-being | Advanced Dementia | 20 sessions for 6 months (3 cycles of music for 23–39 min) Active/passive, individual video graphed music Music intervention Pre, During, Post data |
9 | Home Caregivers |
Measurement scales: NPI, The CODEM instrument for assessing communication behavior, The Positive Response Schedule for Severe Dementia (PRS) for assessing well-being, The Observed Emotion Rating Scale (OERS) for rating positive and negative emotions, Results: Improvement in communication skills, well-being, and expressing more positive emotions |
| Hsu et al., 2015 [58] | Well-being Dementia symptoms |
Dementia | 5 months (30 min music once a week) Active, well-known songs Music therapy Pre, During, End, Post data |
17 (MT, CG) | Residential aged care facility Music therapist |
Measurement scales: NPI for Nursing Homes for measuring Dementia symptoms, Dementia Care Mapping (DCM) for the well-being Results: Physiological data heart rate and skin conductance, skin temperature and bodily acceleration, Decrease in NPI for MT and increase in NPI for CG after 5 months, Improvement in the well-being of MT and decline in the control group, Improve in the interaction between patients and caregivers |
| Ray and Mittelman, 2017 [33] | Agitation, wandering and Depression | Moderate and severe Dementia | 15 min–60 min Preferred music, live, active group therapy (4–6 patients) Music therapy Pre, During, Post data (each for 2 weeks) |
132 (F: 112, M: 20) | Residential aged care facility Music therapist |
Measurement scales: ANOVA Results: A decrease in agitation and depression, no change in wandering |
| Melhuish et al., 2017 [68] | QOL | Semantic and frontotemporal Dementia | 50–60 min once a week Active (music from the 1920s to 1960s), Dance/Movement Music therapy |
24 (M:12, F:18) (15: Moderate Dementia, 12: Advanced Dementia) |
Residential aged care facility caregivers |
Measurement scales: Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) Results: Help caregivers to discover patients’ skills and feeling, improve the connection between caregivers and patients |
| Tang et al., 2018 [59] | Apathy, Cognition | Dementia | 12 weeks (50 min for 3 times in a week) Active, group therapy, playing a musical instrument, nostalgic music (nostalgic red songs, nostalgic nursery rhymes, and nostalgic Cantonese opera) Music intervention |
77 (M: 39, F: 38, 39:CG, 38: MT) | Residential aged care facility Research assistant |
Measurement scales: Apathy Evaluation Scale (AES), Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) Results: Decrease in apathy, no changes in cognition |
| Garrido et al., 2018 [21] | Psychological and Behavioral Symptoms (Depression, Anxiety, Apathy, and Cognitive) |
Dementia | ~30 min (2 min baseline 1–2 playlist (contain 2–4 song) each 8–9 min, 2–3 min between each playlist) Recorded personalized/preferred music (belong to 1930s–1970s) Music intervention Pre, During data |
99 | Residential aged care facility Facility staffs |
Measurement scales: Activation of facial action (webcam Observed Emotion Rating), OERC Results: People with high levels of depression and with symptoms of Alzheimer’s type of Dementia demonstrated increased levels of sadness, People with low depression but high levels of apathy demonstrated the highest behavioral evidence of pleasure during music listening, although behavioral evidence declined with the severity of cognitive impairment |
| Cheung et al., 2018 [56] | Cognitive Functions, Depression, and Anxiety | Moderate Dementia | 12 weeks 3 activities (music-with-movement(MM), intervention music listening(IML), and social activity(SA)) Music intervention Pre, Middle, End data |
165 (3 groups; MM: 54, IML: 58, SA: 53) | Residential aged care facility Facility staffs |
Measurement scales: Mixed multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), RAID scale for measuring anxiety, GDS, MMSE, Fuld’s Object Memory Evaluation (FOME), Modified Fuld Verbal Fluency Test (MVFT), Digit Span Test (DST) for measuring adult intelligence Results: Improvements in memory and depressive symptoms |
| Gulliver et al., 2019 [67] | Well-being, QOL, Mental Health (Depression) | Alzheimer’s Dementia |
40–60 min for 8 weeks Music engagement program based on patients age, culture, and preference Music engagement program Pre, Post data |
19 | Residential aged care facility Facility staffs |
Measurement scales: Visual Analogue Survey (VAS) based on WONCA diagram for Feeling and Social Activities, Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia and quality of life through measuring factors of mood-related signs Result: Improvement in well-being and mental health |
| Cheung et al., 2020 [60] | Agitation | Moderate Dementia | 6 weeks (45 min twice a week) 3 activities (music with movement(MM), music listening(ML), social activity(SA)), preferred music Music intervention Pre, Post data |
165 (3 groups: MM, ML, SA) | Residential aged care facility Facility staffs |
Measurement scales: A Chinese version of the CMAI Results: No statistically significant changes in agitation among the three groups, only short-term impact during the MT |
| Kwak et al., 2020 [69] | Agitation, Cognition | Dementia/Alzheimer’s | 14 weeks Preferred recorded music Music intervention Pre, During, and Post data |
59 | Residential aged care facility Facility staffs |
Measurement scales: CMAI, NPI-NH Result: No statistically significant changes in memory |