Dementia patients in nursing homes that offer personalized music programs are more likely to discontinue the use of antipsychotics and antianxiety medications, and experience fewer behavioral health issues, according to a study recently published in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.
For the study, researchers identified 98 nursing homes that implemented personalized music in 2013 and compared health data on the cognitively impaired patient population at these organizations with health data on comparable patient populations at 98 other facilities without music programs. In total, the patient groups amounted to nearly 13,000 people respectively.
Researchers found that in within the first sixth months of implementing the music program, the number of patients suffering from dementia or cognitive impairment who discontinued antipsychotic medication use increased from 17.6 percent to 20.1 percent. This rate remained relatively flat at comparable facilities that did not implement the program, wavering slightly from 15.9 to 15.2 percent during the six month period.
Overall, the rate of patients discontinuing antianxiety medications at the music program facilities increased from 23.5 percent to 24.4 percent over the six-month study period. At the comparable facilities, fewer patients opted to discontinue using antianxiety medication. The rate of patients discontinuing the medication at facilities that did not provide a music program declined from 24.8 percent to 20 percent. The nursing homes with the music programs also saw a reduction in behavioral problems among these patient populations while instance of behavioral issues at the facilities without such programs remained virtually unchanged.
"This is promising," said Rosa Baier, an associate professor of practice at the Brown University School of Public Health in Providence, R.I. "It's a first step to understanding that there may be improvements that can be attributed to this intervention."
More articles on patient engagement:
AMA to address patient-physician texting at annual meeting
The fine print of patient satisfaction scores: Leaders weigh in on the interactions, data points and hospital departments that matter
Sponge Bob videos played during radiotherapy help pediatric cancer patients remain still, avoid anesthesia