Abstract
Introduction
Music therapy (MT) can alleviate the behavioural and psychiatric symptoms of dementia (BPSD) but it is not a standard intervention. NICE recommends MT to improve wellbeing in patients with dementia. On our Care of the Elderly (COE) wards, MT is carried out by a qualified music therapist once a week, in groups, individual sessions, or both. This quality improvement project (QIP) aimed to establish what, if any impact, MT, as it was currently provided, had on BPSD, in the setting of a general district hospital ward, thereby also potentially setting new standards which could be used to further optimise the provision of MT to patients.
Method
Patients with either a diagnosis of dementia or delirium were identified at the start of the day. MT was delivered in groups, individually, as well as both in some cases. Patients were interviewed by the music therapist both before and after MT, using the Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire (NPIQ), which was introduced and edited for this project. Patients’ engagement with MT was observed by the therapist and recorded as routinely done, unbeknown to the therapist to later be included in the project. Data was collected on a weekly basis.
Results
Over the course of 9 Mondays, 37 patients were scored on the NPIQ pre and post MT. Nine had a score of 0 both pre and post intervention. From the remaining 28 participants, 20, i.e. 71% had an improvement in their NPIQ score. Engagement levels were extracted from the therapist’s narrative on the day and 94 % (32/34) were positively engaged. One patient had five sessions of MT. In his case, MT reduced the need for anti-psychotics.
Conclusions
Music therapy improves the wellbeing of patients with dementia and delirium and should therefore be a standard resource on a COE ward.