The effect of music therapy interventions to increase the psychosocial well-being of older adults living in independent and assisted living communities.

摘要

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of group music therapy sessions on the psychosocial well-being of older adults living in assisted and independent living communities. Pre-and posttest was used in two different communities with twenty one participants who engaged in group music therapy sessions for eight consecutive weeks. All sessions included following interventions: music listening, singing, lyric analysis, and music-assisted movements. The researcher tested and compared participants' life satisfaction, happiness, self-esteem, and social interaction by conducting and analyzing pre and posttests. The researcher also examined whether participants' demographic variables such as age and gender would influence their psychosocial well-being. Results indicated that there were significant effect of group music therapy sessions on their life satisfaction, self-esteem, and social interaction. Further analyses of participants' demographic variables on their psychosocial well-being showed that gender indicated significant influence on their self-esteem and social interaction. These findings of the present study have implicated that the group music therapy sessions may increase the level of psychosocial well-being of older adults living in independent and assisted living communities.