Musical Bridges to Memory™: A music intervention for persons with dementia and familial caregivers
To support a mixed-methods, experimental study examining outcomes of a music-based program for older adults with dementia and their caregivers. Individuals with moderate-to-severe dementia living in memory care facilities and their caregivers will be placed into one of two groups: 1) Musical Bridges to Memory (MBM), a 12-week music program, or 2) a control group who receives standard care without a music program. In MBM, caregivers will engage weekly in communication skills training. Adults with dementia will listen to a set of pre-recorded music, and pairs of adults with dementia and their caregivers will attend a live music performance followed by a breakout group to practice communication skills. Assessment tools for both the intervention group and the control group will include pre- and post-measures and behavioral observations of social behaviors for adults with dementia and their caregivers. There will be separate measures for companion satisfaction among caregivers, and for mood and neuropsychiatric symptoms in adults with dementia.