The effects of music therapy on enhancing the overall health of elderly patients receiving home health care: A controlled study

Abstract

Music therapy can be defined as the application of sound and music to integrate cognitive, affective, and motor aspects, fostering awareness and enhancing creative processes. Scientific literature lacks studies that standardize music therapy procedures and assessments for elderly patients receiving home health care. This study aimed to systematically analyze the effects of music therapy on the overall health of elderly patients receiving home health care. Twenty elderly individuals were divided into control and intervention groups, and two blinded examiners used the Individualized Music Therapy Assessment Profile (IMTAP) and system of music therapy evaluation for people with Alzheimer’s and other dementias scales to evaluate them before and after 12 weeks of treatment. Only members of the intervention group received weekly individual music therapy sessions. Statistical analysis included inter-rater correlation, comparison between independent samples (group pairings), and comparison between related samples (differences between initial and final evaluations within groups) with a significance threshold of P ≤ 0.05. In the initial condition, the two groups exhibited dissimilarity only in the IMTAP scale’s Musicality and Fine Motricity domains domain among the 15 evaluated domains. Comparing the initial and final conditions within each group, the intervention group demonstrated significance in 11 subscales, whereas the control group showed significance in only two subscales. These results highlight more significant improvements in the intervention group, extending across all dimensions of life. The findings from this study suggest that music therapy may offer benefits to elderly patients receiving home health care, contributing to their overall health.