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The effects of a socialization and music therapy intervention on self-esteem and loneliness in spouse caregivers of those diagnosed with dementia of the Alzheimer type: A pilot study

Gerontology Center, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas

Susan Tebb, PhD, MSW, LCSW

School of Social Service, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri

Barry Bernstein, RMT-BC

Recreational Service, Colmery-O'Neil Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Topeka, Kansas

There is an increasing need to provide interventions which offer opportunities for individuals who care for spouses and other family members to decrease their loneliness and increase their self-esteem. This pilot study, which included four caregivers and their spouses, was a joint effort including music therapy and social work services. It was designed to determine if caregivers who had no prior musical experiences could be trained to use music with their care recipients. It was also designed to determine if caregivers' participation with other care giving and care receiving couples in a social gathering with music therapy programming would affect changes in their measure of loneliness and self-esteem. The results indicated that three of the four caregivers who participated in this study had changes in their selfes-teem scores which indicated improved self-esteem. These changes were not significant, but approached significance at the .05 level of confidence of two subjects. One subject showed little to no change in self-esteem. None of the spouses had significant changes in their measure of loneliness, although The American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders & Research, January/February 1993 24 two of the four subjects showed trends for less loneliness while one remained about the same and one increased slightly. Additional research is required to further establish the effects of music therapy on self-esteem and loneliness in caregivers offamily members diagnosed with probable Alzheimer's disease

American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias®, Vol. 8, No. 1, 24-32 (1993)
DOI: 10.1177/153331759300800105


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