A Systematic Review of the Literature for the Effects of Music on Dementia Patients

Author Info

Andra Duff-Woskosky Julie Earle Marina Ali Sheri Horsburgh Wally J. Bartfay

Corresponding Author

Wally J. Bartfay
Faculty of Health Sciences, Ontario Tech University, Canada

A B S T R A C T

Introduction: There are over 100 different forms of dementia which is a broad term employed to describe symptoms effecting the brain caused by neurological and vascular diseases. It is a neurological disease that results in a decline in cognitive, social and physical disability which currently has no cure. The prevalence is expected to triple by 2050, due to the aging population trends in Canada. It has been estimated that 24.3 million people have dementia, and there are 4.6 million new cases annually, which accounts for one case every 3 seconds globally. Objectives: This systematic review examines the effects of music therapy on behavioral psychological symptoms of dementia and the quality of life. Methods: A systematic literature search was performed in Ovid Medline, CINAHL and PsycINFO from January 2000 until August 2019. A data abstraction template was employed to for data management and organization. We included all peer reviewed, English articles, RCT’s, systematic reviews, meta-analysis, abstract pool and all or some key words. Results: From 968 potentially relevant records, 55 studies were evaluated for eligibility, and 20 met the inclusion criteria. Overall the studies showed a significant impact on mitigating agitation, reducing BPSD and improving memory, cognition, QOL and decreasing anxiety and symptoms associated with depression. Conclusion: The role of musical interventions found in the literature demonstrates the benefits of music therapy on dementia patients due to its positive effects on BPSD, quality of life and other behavioral symptoms.

Article Info

Article Type

Review of Literature

Publication history

Received: Sun 19, Jan 2020
Accepted: Fri 31, Jan 2020
Published: Mon 10, Feb 2020

Copyright

© 2023 Wally J. Bartfay. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Hosting by Science Repository.
DOI: 10.31487/j.GGR.2019.01.04