Dual-Task-Based Music Therapy to Improve Executive Functioning of Elderly Patients with Early Stage Alzheimer’s Disease: A Multiple Case Study

Soo Ji Kim (), Jin-Kyoung Park and Myung Sun Yeo
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Soo Ji Kim: Music Therapy Education, Graduate School of Education, Ewha Womans University, Seoul 03760, Korea
Jin-Kyoung Park: Department of Music Therapy, Graduate School, Ewha Womans University, Seoul 03760, Korea
Myung Sun Yeo: Music Therapy Education, Graduate School of Education, Ewha Womans University, Seoul 03760, Korea

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 19, 1-12

Abstract: Deficits in executive functioning are a common feature of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and result from impairment in the central executive system. As a result, elderly patients with early stage AD may require interventions that are more cognitively intense than traditional interventions. To address this need, in this multiple case study, we explored a dual-task-based music therapy intervention that involved drum playing and singing designed to induce attentional and motor controls. Three octogenarians diagnosed with early stage AD participated in 12 dual-task-based music therapy sessions over 6 weeks. Measures of executive functioning and the performance of a bimanual drum tapping task were evaluated before and after the intervention. Improvements in executive functioning were observed for participants A and C. After the intervention, reduced mean synchronization errors were found for the simultaneous tapping condition for all three participants. Although there was variability in the functional changes between participants, it is noteworthy that positive improvements in the elderly patients with early stage AD were obtained following dual-task-based music therapy. The results suggest that music therapy integrated into the dual-task paradigm can be an effective way to address degenerative cognitive deficits among elderly patients with early stage AD.

Keywords: dual-task; music therapy; early stage Alzheimer’s disease; executive functioning; drum playing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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