Barriers to Music Therapy for Dementia Residents with Anxiety in a Long-Term Care Facility Revealed
Background: Dementia is a brain disorder that worsens an individual’s cognition over time affecting factors such as memory, behavior, and judgment. Anxiety often accompanies dementia. When those with dementia experience anxiety, this results in behaviors that put their safety at risk. Music therapy assists in decreasing anxiety symptoms.
Local problem: Residents at a local long-term care facility suffer from anxiety related to dementia. Currently, there are limited evidence-based nonpharmacological interventions such as music therapy to address residents’ anxiety.
Methods: This quality improvement project was guided by the progressively lowered stress threshold for music implementation and Prosci’s awareness, desire, knowledge, ability, and reinforcement model for staff training.
Interventions: Residents received music therapy delivered via compact disc players and implemented by certified nursing assistants (CNAs) with a goal of three times a day, three days a week, for eight weeks. Staff compliance was recorded using implementation logs and staff feedback was measured using post-project surveys.
Results: Two of a possible five residents participated in the project. Of the two that participated, many touch points were missed. Barriers to implementation include issues with staffing, communication, education, workload, resident recruitment, and negative staff disposition. Lessons learned include approaching barriers with an open mind, communicating with the staff often, and ensuring project education is provided.
Conclusion: The results of the project can be useful for future professionals interested in implementing similar initiatives and avoiding similar outcomes.
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| Work Title | Barriers to Music Therapy for Dementia Residents with Anxiety in a Long-Term Care Facility Revealed |
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| License | No Copyright - U.S. |
| Work Type | Professional Doctoral Culminating Experience |
| Sub Work Type | Doctor of Nursing Practice Project |
| Program | Nursing |
| Degree | Doctor of Nursing Practice |
| Acknowledgments |
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| Publication Date | April 30, 2025 |
| Deposited | April 30, 2025 |
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