A Multimodal Music Therapy Intervention for Engaging Persons With Severe Dementia

Delivered live by a board-certified music therapist (MT-BC) 40 min 2x/week for 12 weeks (24 total sessions; 16 total hours) in small groups of 3-5 people. A Multimodal mUSic therapy intervention for Engaging persons with severe Dementia (AMUSED) uses live participant-preferred music and progressively layers singing, touch, and rhythmic instrument playing concurrent with participant behavioral responses. Follows the Clinical Practice Model for Persons with Dementia and implementation strategies that promote cognition, attention, familiarity, audibility, structure, autonomy per participants' strengths, interests, preferences, culture, and momentary responses. Each small group works with the same music therapist throughout the study.

"Delivered live by a trained research assistant (interventionist) 40 min 2x/week for 12 weeks (24 total sessions; 16 total hours) in small groups of 3-5 people. The interventionist will read aloud from age-appropriate books (Chicken Soup for the Golden Soul by Jack Canfield; World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil) selected to have sufficient material for all sessions, contain short stories to accommodate for attention span and session length, and offer choice. Follows implementation strategies identical to the music therapy arm (i.e., within the Clinical Practice Model for Persons with Dementia) that promote cognition, attention, familiarity, audibility, structure, autonomy per participants' strengths, interests, preferences, culture, and momentary responses. However, no music (including musical references) is used. Each small group works with the same reading interventionist throughout the study."