Summary of the Clinical Issue
The Alzheimer’s Association establishes that Alzheimer's disease, a common cause of dementia, has affected about 5.8 million Americans aged 65 or older. The statistics further indicate that one in every 10 US citizens has the condition, with two-thirds of those affected being women. This condition is the sixth cause of death among 65+ adults in the US, in addition to causing poor health and disability (Silva et al., 2019). Statistics indicate that there was a 146% increase in the number of Alzheimer's-related deaths between 2000 and 2018, numbers that point to a dire situation (Alzheimer’s Association, 2020). According to the Alzheimer's Association (2020), the number of people with this condition is growing fast, especially in nations with higher proportions of older citizens. There is an estimation that by 2050 there will be about 13.8 million individuals with Alzheimer's dementia (Alzheimer's Association, 2020). A rapid rise in the number of patients who contract this condition means that it would be difficult to achieve medical breakthroughs to cure, prevent, or slow it. These statistics indicate that Alzheimer's is a significant clinical issue that requires immediate redress to improve populations' outcomes in the US. Therapeutic interventions such as music therapy have been known to eliminate agitation and other negative behaviors that are known to aggravate Alzheimer's in older patients.
PICOT Question: I n older adults with Alzheimer’s is music therapy or no music therapy effective in lowering agitation.
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Literature Evaluation Table
Criteria |
Article 1 |
Article 2 |
Article 3 |
APA-Formatted Article Citation with Permalink | Pedersen, S., Andersen, P. N., Lugo, R. G., Andreassen, M., & Sutterlin, S. (2017). Effects of music on agitation in Dementia: A meta-analysis. Frontiers in Psychology, 8 (4), 742-760. ttps://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00742 | Leggieri, M., Thaut, M. H., Fornazzari, L., Schweizer, T. A., Barfett, J., Munoz, D. G., & Fischer, C. E. (2019). Music intervention approaches for Alzheimer's disease: A review of the literature. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 13 (3), 132-153. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2019.00132 | Lam, H. L., Li, W.T., Laher, I., & Wong, R. Y. (2020). Effects of music therapy on patients with dementia: A systematic review. Geriatrics, 5(6), 62-73 . doi:10.3390/geriatrics5040062 |
How Does the Article Relate to the PICOT Question? | The article establishes that music therapy significantly reduces agitation in Alzheimer’s patients thus improving clinical outcomes | The article affirms that listening to music helps patients to relax, thus providing long-term benefits to them. | Music therapy is an effective non-pharmacology intervention that improves the outcomes of Alzheimer’s |
Quantitative, Qualitative (How do you know?) | Qualitative. The study is a meta-analysis that uses the results of 12 studies that met the inclusion criteria. | Qualitative. The study is a meta-analysis that focuses on previous studies. | Qualitative. The study reviews existing literature related to the PICOT question. |
Purpose Statement | Comparing the benefits of passive v. active music interventions. | Investigating the effectiveness of individualized vs. non-individualized music on behavioral and cognitive outcomes for Alzheimer’s dementia patients. | Investigating the relationship between music therapy and cognition in Alzheimer’s patients. |
Research Question | Does music therapy reduce agitation in Alzheimer’s patients? | Does individualizing music therapy improve clinical outcomes? | Is there a relationship between music therapy and agitation reduction? |
Outcome | Music therapy is effective in reducing agitation behaviors in Alzheimer’s patients. | Music interventions that use individualized playlists yield greater benefits. | Recall of familiar melodies prompts patients to activate old memories. |
Setting (Where did the study take place?) |
The study was based on previous studies. | This study explored past studies into the clinical issue in question | The study focused on past literature on related studies. |
Sample | The researchers used information from 12 previous studies. | The study used information from 6 prior studies. | The study used information from 83 studies. |
Method | Use of key terms to search various databases including Medline/PubMed, PsycINFO, and CINAHL. | Researchers adapted database searches to come up with studies that would fit the inclusion criteria. | There was the use of search words for various databases to identify relevant studies. |
Key Findings of the Study | Active music therapy is more effective in reducing agitation as compared to passive therapy. | Alzheimer’s patients who are exposed to individualized music have improved outcomes than those that listen to non-individualized music. | Music therapy helps in improving verbal fluency and reduces the level of apathy in dementia patients. |
Recommendations of the Researcher | A need to differentiate between degrees of severity and clinical samples in future research. | Future studies should focus on brain changes that are associated with music therapy. | Additional clinical trials would help to determine more therapeutic benefits of music. |
Criteria |
Article 4 |
Article 5 |
Article 6 |
APA-Formatted Article Citation with Permalink | Pigliautile, M., Delicati, F., Cecchetti, R., Bastiani, P., Scamosci, M., Cesarini, S., Menculini, G., Longo, A., Mecocci, P., & Federici, S. (2019). Music therapy effects in people with Dementia. Scholarly Journal of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, 2(2), 134-17. doi: 10.32474/SJPBS.2019.02.000132 | Cho, H. K. (2018). The effects of music therapy-singing group on quality of life and effect of persons with dementia: A randomized controlled trial. Frontiers in Medicine, 5 (3), 279-300. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2018.00279 |
Schroeder, R. W., Martin, P. K., Marsh, C., Carr, S., Richardson, T., Kaur, J., Rusk, J., & Jiwanlal, S. (2018). Individualized music-based intervention for acute neuropsychiatric symptoms in hospitalized older adults with cognitive impairment: A prospective, controlled, nonrandomized trial. Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine, 4 (3), 30-52. https://doi.org/10.1177/2333721418783121 |
How Does the Article Relate to the PICOT Question? | The article establishes that music therapy improves the wellbeing of persons with Alzheimer’s. | Music therapy improves the quality of life of Alzheimer’s patients. | The article establishes that music therapy reduces levels of agitation in Alzheimer’s patients. |
Quantitative, Qualitative (How do you know?) | Quantitative. The study is a randomized control trial. | Quantitative. The study includes both experimental and control groups. | Quantitative. The study adopted a randomized controlled research design. |
Purpose Statement | Investigating the impact of music therapy on salivary cortisol which determines stress levels. | Comparing possible effects music therapy-singing group with the music-listening group. | Evaluating the impact of individualized music intervention on agitation in dementia patients. |
Research Question | Does music therapy improve the quality of life in Alzheimer’s patients? | Does singing has better outcomes than listening to music? | To what extent does music therapy improve patients’ quality of life? |
Outcome | Music therapy reduces psycho-behavioral disturbances thus improving quality of life. | Short-term music therapy-singing has better effects on the participants’ quality of life. | The experimental group showed a significant reduction in agitation and improved mood. |
Setting (Where did the study take place?) |
Two nursing homes in Italy. | A veterans' home that is based in upstate New York. | Geriatric inpatient unit. |
Sample | 27 individuals with moderate to severe dementia. | 52 individuals aged between 67-99 years. | 41 older adults who had been admitted to an inpatient unit for displaying acute agitation. |
Method | Single-blinded randomized-controlled trial. | Participants were assigned to three groups: music medicine listening group, music therapy-singing, and control group. | The team used individualized music therapy in the experimental group. |
Key Findings of the Study | Music therapy enriches patients’ communicative and relational abilities. | Music therapy that emphasizes the sense of self-worth helps improve clinical outcomes. | Individualized music therapy increased the patients’ acceptance to care. |
Recommendations of the Researcher | Future research should use more participants who are homogenous to enhance generalizability. | Future research should use blind assessors and larger small sample size to affirm the results in his study. | Music-based interventions should be infused with additional behavior management strategies to enhance their effectiveness. |
References
Alzheimer’s Association. (2020). Alzheimer’s and Dementia: Facts and figures . https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/facts-figures
Cho, H. K. (2018). The effects of music therapy-singing group on quality of life and effect of persons with dementia: A randomized controlled trial. Frontiers in Medicine, 5 (3), 279-300. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2018.00279
Lam, H. L., Li, W.T., Laher, I., & Wong, R. Y. (2020). Effects of music therapy on patients with dementia: A systematic review. Geriatrics, 5 (6), 62-73. doi:10.3390/geriatrics5040062
Leggieri, M., Thaut, M. H., Fornazzari, L., Schweizer, T. A., Barfett, J., Munoz, D. G., & Fischer, C. E. (2019). Music intervention approaches for Alzheimer's disease: A review of the literature. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 13 (3), 132-153. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2019.00132
Pedersen, S., Andersen, P. N., Lugo, R. G., Andreassen, M., & Sutterlin, S. (2017). Effects of music on agitation in Dementia: A meta-analysis. Frontiers in Psychology, 8 (4), 742-760. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00742
Pigliautile, M., Delicati, F., Cecchetti, R., Bastiani, P., Scamosci, M., Cesarini, S., Menculini, G., Longo, A., Mecocci, P., & Federici, S. (2019). Music therapy effects on people with dementia. Scholarly Journal of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, 2 (2), 134-17. doi: 10.32474/SJPBS.2019.02.000132
Schroeder, R. W., Martin, P. K., Marsh, C., Carr, S., Richardson, T., Kaur, J., Rusk, J., & Jiwanlal, S. (2018). Individualized music-based intervention for acute neuropsychiatric symptoms in hospitalized older adults with cognitive impairment: A prospective, controlled, nonrandomized trial. Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine, 4 (3), 30-52. https://doi.org/10.1177/2333721418783121
Silva, M. V., Loures, C.M., Alves, L. C., Souza, L. C., Borges, K.B., & Carvalho, M. G. (2019). Alzheimer’s disease: risk factors and potentially protective measures . Journal of Biomedical Science , 26 (3), 33-43 . https://doi.org/10.1186/s12929-019-0524-y