Impact of Music Interventions on Depression in Care Home Residents with Dementia: UK Results from Music Interventions for Depression and Dementia in Elderly Care RCT
Justine Schneider, Joanne Ablewhite, Jodie Bloska, Martin Orrell, Helen Odell-Miller, Jorg Assmus, Christian Gold, Vigdis Sveinsdottir, Staffan Karlsson · 2025
Read Impact of Music Interventions on Depression in Care Home Residents with Dementia: UK Results from Music Interventions for Depression and Dementia in Elderly Care RCT by Justine Schneider, Joanne Ablewhite, Jodie Bloska, Martin Orrell, Helen Odell-Miller, Jorg Assmus, Christian Gold, Vigdis Sveinsdottir, Staffan Karlsson (2025) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-12732711.txt.
Description
Justine Schneider and eight colleagues report the United Kingdom arm of a large trial testing music programs for depression in care home residents with dementia. Sixteen care home units were assigned by chance to group music therapy, choir singing for fun, both, or usual care. Sessions ran twice a week for three months, then weekly for three more.
Of 192 residents enrolled, 146 were analyzed at six months. Neither program improved depression or any other outcome by a meaningful margin. Choir singing showed worse effects on depression scores, symptom severity, and self-rated health. The combined arm also raised distress among caregivers. The authors say the UK findings do not support these music programs for depression in this group, a sobering result for a popular care practice.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Justine Schneider, Joanne Ablewhite, Jodie Bloska, Martin Orrell, Helen Odell-Miller, Jorg Assmus, Christian Gold, Vigdis Sveinsdottir, Staffan Karlsson |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2025 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 33 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |