Music-Based Therapeutic Interventions for People with Dementia: A Mini-Review

The growing population of people with dementia worldwide calls attention to the burdens associated with age-related decline that affects physiology, psychological and cognitive status, and social/emotional wellbeing. The current standards in geriatric care recommend non-pharmacological approaches to these challenges, including safe approaches to managing pain and stress, enhancing symptom relief, and fostering independent lifestyles with the highest quality of life possible. The purpose of this article is to provide definitions of music-based interventions, music therapy applications and clinician qualifications, as well as an umbrella mini-review of meta-analyses regarding music-based interventions for individuals with dementia. Our findings indicate that most descriptions of music therapy protocols in the research lack sufficient detail to enable researchers to compare and replicate studies, and clinicians to apply techniques. Definitions of music therapy and music-based interventions are inconsistent, and practitioners vary in their professional training and preparation for implementing music-based clinical strategies. We recommend that future researchers provide thorough descriptions of music therapy and music-based interventions in their protocols.