The University of Ottawa Brain and Mind Research Institute has awarded Dr. Comeau and Dr. Georg Northoff (The Royal) funding for the project “Assessing the therapeutic efficacy of music interventions on depression and anxiety symptoms of individuals with dementia: an exploratory clinical trial”.
The overall goal of this intersectoral and interdisciplinary project is to implement and evaluate the impact of a specific music-based intervention, so called “percussion ensemble playing”, on anxiety and depression symptoms of people living with dementia. The percussion ensemble playing is a well-established group-based and participant-centered music approach that can be partaken by anyone (with or without any previous musical training). Older individuals (55+) with mild to moderate dementia, who are showing signs of depression or anxiety will be recruited for this study from The Royal’s Outpatient Program and the Bruyère’s Memory Clinic. Participants will be required to attend a weekly 60-minute music class over a 10-week program and will be assessed before and after the program to document cumulative changes, as well as before and after single music classes to document immediate changes.
Measurements will include biological and physiological markers as well as psycho-social qualitative and quantitative data following the methodological approach “single case experimental design (SCED)”, which allows to assess their impact of each single participant and may lead to novel, individualized precision-based interventions.
We hypothesize that some individuals with dementia, receiving weekly naturalistic music classes will show significant improvement in their depression and anxiety symptom severity scores after the music program ends compared to before. The novelty of the project resides: 1) in the fact that we are using a less conventional approach, the percussion ensemble playing, to address anxiety and depression symptoms of people living with dementia, and 2) in the use of a methodological approach, i.e., the single case experimental design (SCED). Indeed, this approach does not compare an experimental condition with a control group to evaluate the statistical impact of the intervention, but rather assesses their impact on each single participant, to establish when, how and for whom this music intervention is most effective, and under what circumstances and settings. This fine grain evaluation approach is entirely new among the available literature testing the impact of music interventions.
This exploratory clinical trial will provide the knowledge to develop a model for integrating music intervention into the care of people with dementia, with mild to moderate anxiety and depression symptoms. It will also provide the groundwork for large-scale clinical studies and eventually pave the way for routine clinical application of specific music programs.
The overall goal of this intersectoral and interdisciplinary project is to implement and evaluate the impact of a specific music-based intervention, so called “percussion ensemble playing”, on anxiety and depression symptoms of people living with dementia. The percussion ensemble playing is a well-established group-based and participant-centered music approach that can be partaken by anyone (with or without any previous musical training). Older individuals (55+) with mild to moderate dementia, who are showing signs of depression or anxiety will be recruited for this study from The Royal’s Outpatient Program and the Bruyère’s Memory Clinic. Participants will be required to attend a weekly 60-minute music class over a 10-week program and will be assessed before and after the program to document cumulative changes, as well as before and after single music classes to document immediate changes.
Measurements will include biological and physiological markers as well as psycho-social qualitative and quantitative data following the methodological approach “single case experimental design (SCED)”, which allows to assess their impact of each single participant and may lead to novel, individualized precision-based interventions.
We hypothesize that some individuals with dementia, receiving weekly naturalistic music classes will show significant improvement in their depression and anxiety symptom severity scores after the music program ends compared to before. The novelty of the project resides: 1) in the fact that we are using a less conventional approach, the percussion ensemble playing, to address anxiety and depression symptoms of people living with dementia, and 2) in the use of a methodological approach, i.e., the single case experimental design (SCED). Indeed, this approach does not compare an experimental condition with a control group to evaluate the statistical impact of the intervention, but rather assesses their impact on each single participant, to establish when, how and for whom this music intervention is most effective, and under what circumstances and settings. This fine grain evaluation approach is entirely new among the available literature testing the impact of music interventions.
This exploratory clinical trial will provide the knowledge to develop a model for integrating music intervention into the care of people with dementia, with mild to moderate anxiety and depression symptoms. It will also provide the groundwork for large-scale clinical studies and eventually pave the way for routine clinical application of specific music programs.