Beyond Listening: A Music-based Intervention

Study will be conducted to determine if caregivers who use music at home will feel less burden and whether the person they are caring for will demonstrate decreased symptoms of dementia. Caregivers will participate in a series of psycho-educational trainings for six weeks. During this time, caregivers will learn how to use singing, music listening and music with movement with their family member. Caregivers should feel less stressed and a decreased sense of burden. The care recipient should appear happier with less occurrences of depression or restlessness.

Our study will incorporate caregivers and their care receivers who are diagnosed with dementia and agitation co-occurring depression. The primary study outcomes are the following: caregiver burden, measured with the Zarit Caregiver Burden Intervention; mood, measured with the Cornell-Brown Scale for Quality of Life; agitation, measured with the Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire; and focus group and diaries will be used to gain a descriptive account of caregiver experiences of facilitation of music intervention. Assessment time frame is focus group with caregivers, then pre-tests for baseline. Before the first workshop, caregivers will be asked to participate in a focus group with other caregivers.

Following pre-tests and focus group, caregivers will participate in a 6-week classroom workshop including the following topics: adding singing and music with movement to address mood or agitation, music listening to assist with transitions or difficult tasks, implementing background music for compliance during activities of daily living, creating individualized playlists/interventions to address undesirable behaviors, and the use of an MP3 player . The 6-week workshop will take place in person or via Zoom. Potential participants will be asked to meet for an hour, once weekly.

During the workshops, caregivers will be taught music-based interventions that involve adding singing and music with movement to address mood or agitation, music listening to assist with transitions or difficult tasks, background music for compliance and the creation of individualized playlists to address undesirable behaviors.

This psychosocial intervention will teach caregivers to incorporate a music-based intervention. The music-based intervention is a non-invasive program that involves singing, music with movement and music listening.

During these 6 weeks, caregivers will implement the music intervention with the care recipient and document weekly diaries. There will be a 3 month follow up designated for participants to repeat the completion of the questionnaires, Zarit Caregiver Burden Interview, Cornell-Brown Scale for Quality of Life, and Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire. These questions will be about participants' moods, agitation level or caregiver burden. This information will be collected in person at Menorah from potential caregiver participants. Principal Investigator will call to gather this data from the caregivers.

Eligibility Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

* A diagnosis of dementia,
* person with dementia exhibits neuropsychiatric symptoms of dementia such as agitation, restlessness, depressed mood, etc.,
* A family member or close friend of a person with dementia,
* Family member must be able to read or write in basic English.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Diagnosis or history of mental illness
* Inadequate hearing even with corrective device
* History of psychosis or other mental disorders other than depression
* History or presence of substance or alcohol abuse.