Purpose of the Study
Improvements in medicine and technology have increased life expectancy, leading to a rise in the elderly population. However, health problems associated with advanced age continue to persist, thereby increasing the risk of mental health disorders such as depression. Pharmacological interventions for depression are available but may be poorly tolerated in the elderly, thereby necessitating the use of complementary and alternative medicine. Music has been shown to alter the right hemisphere of the brain, stimulate the production of neurotransmitters that elicit psycho-physiological reactions through the limbic system. The purpose of the study is to find the impact of music therapy on the symptoms of depression and physiological characteristics among elderly people residing in a nursing home.
Research & Design
A quantitative research design was used to attain the objectives of the investigation. This design was appropriate for the objectives because it enabled the quantification of the effect of the intervention (music therapy) on depressive symptoms and physiological parameters. The study used a randomized controlled trial approach, which involved single blinding to the interventions. This method enables the testing of the intermediation in a real-life setting over a specified duration.
Sample
The sample consisted of 64 elderly residents of a nursing home in Turkey. This number was distributed equally between the control and intervention groups. For individuals to be recruited into the study, they had to be residents of the nursing home at the time of the study (between January and March 2015), willing to take part in the investigation, and capable of communicating effectively. Residents who had any hearing or visual impairments were excluded from taking part in the research. Random sampling was done using computer-generated numbers to select 64 subjects out of 105 residents of the nursing home and assign them into groups.
Data Collection
The main data collected was depression symptoms, which were captured by the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). However, an abridged version of the tool, which had a total of 15 questions instead of 30 was used. The instrument was administered to the participants at baseline and after eight weeks. The subjects were asked to respond with ‘yes’ for negative questions and ‘no’ for positive questions (Gök Ugur et al., 2017). Scores above 5 were considered the presence of depression, whereas totals below 5 were regarded as the absence of depression. The music group received music therapy thrice a week for 40 minutes per day.
Data Analysis
The baseline (week 0) and post-treatment (week 8) GDS scores were compared using paired-samples t-tests at 0.05 level of significance. This approach to data analysis enabled the authors to determine the effectiveness of the intervention. The student learned that a paired-samples t-test is the appropriate statistical method for comparing two sets of data obtained from the same sample.
Limitations
One limitation reported by the authors is that the intervention was tested in only one nursing home in a single area of Turkey. Therefore, these findings cannot be considered applicable to all elderly people living in nursing homes. For these reasons, there is a need to conduct additional investigations in various nursing homes for the outcomes to be generalizable.
Findings/Discussion
The pre-test GDS scores were not different between the control and music groups. Nonetheless, there was a significant difference between the GDS scores of the two groups post-test. The GDS scored reduced in the music group compared to the control. These findings showed that music therapy reduced the symptoms of depression among the elderly. An interesting detail learned from the study was that music therapy also resulted in a significant decrease in blood pressure.
Reading Research Literature
Reading and understanding research literature enables one to comprehend the authors’ objectives, methods of realizing these goals, main outcomes, and conclusions. Extensive reading of such literature enables the comprehension of research methods that are relevant to specific areas of study. Completing this reading research literature activity worksheet has enabled the understanding of the application of music therapy as an intervention in mental health disorders such as depression.
Reference
Gök Ugur, H., Yaman Aktas, Y., Orak, O., Saglambilen, O., & Aydin Avci, I. (2017). The effect of music therapy on depression and physiological parameters in elderly people living in a Turkish nursing home: A randomized control trial. Aging & Mental Health, 21(12), 1280-1286.