Purpose of the Study
The population of elderly people in Turkey and the world is increasing rapidly due to the rise in life expectancy. Old age is linked with several health issues and comorbidities. Depression is one of the most common mental problems associated with old age. It may lead to a reduction in life quality, economic loss, and death due to suicide. There are medications, which are effective in treatment of depression. However, these drugs have side effects that impact negatively on the health of the patient. The study was undertaken to ascertain whether music therapy has a significant impact of decreasing depression levels in old people.
Research & Design
The research tries to find an effective complementary therapy to ease depression disorder symptoms. Elderly people were subjected to music for 8 weeks and their depression level monitored. Randomized controlled trial design was used in the research. Depression level was recorded at the baseline, which was day 0 and follow up done weekly. This was done to evaluate whether depression level reduced with time due to music.
Sample
All the elderly living in Turkish nursing homes were accessed for eligibility to participate in this study. A total of 105 elderly were present in the facility. However, only 64 people took part in the research. This is because 26 individuals did not meet the inclusion criteria for this research, while 15 did not accept to participate. Thirty participants were subjected to music while the rest became the control group. Persons with hearing and visual problems were excluded.
Data Collection
Each study participants filled an elderly information questionnaire, which was later used to extract demographic data. The form had 11 questions that consisted of gender, age, educational status, marital status, and the absence or presence of comorbidities. In addition, the length of stay in the nursing home, and the frequency of visits by relatives and friends were asked (Gök et al., 2017). The document was filled at the beginning of the research.
Data Analysis
T-Test and chi-square tests were used to compare the physiological parameters and depression levels between the groups at the eighth week and baseline level. Paired sample T-test was utilized in comparing the depression levels at the baseline and eight weeks. This is a statistical procedure that determines the mean differences between two observations sets. In this research, the difference in depression level between the baseline and the final stage was zero after the music intervention.
Limitations
The study was undertaken in one Turkish nursing home. This implies that the results do not reflect the effects of the elderly in other facilities or those living with their families. Future studies determining the effects of music therapy in depressed elderly people should include several nursing homes to increase the credibility and validity of the results. In addition, researching in other countries also would have produced more reliable results.
Findings/Discussion
There was a significant difference between the pre-test and the post-test depression level in the subjects between the scores recorded on the control group and participants subjected to music intervention. This result implies that music therapy is effective in the treatment of mental problems such as depression in elderly people. In addition, the findings also showed that music therapy helps in controlling blood pressure. This is because the after test systolic pressure of persons in the music group was significantly lower relative to those of individuals from the control group. It is interesting to note that non-medicinal therapies are effective in the treatment of hypertension and depression.
Reading Research Literature
It is important to read research literature because it enables one to understand the problem that needs to be solved. It also relates the work to existing literature and helps a reader to identify the gaps in documented information. Additionally, the significance of a study is well elucidated in the review section of a paper. I learned that staying in a nursing home contributes to depression in elderly people.
References
Gök Ugur, H., Yaman Aktaş, Y., Orak, O. S., Saglambilen, O., & Aydin Avci, İ. (2017). The effect of music therapy on depression and physiological parameters in elderly people living in a Turkish nursing home: A randomized-controlled trial. Aging & Mental Health, 21(12), 1280-1286.