The effects of music therapy on reducing symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease
A meta-analysis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58445/rars.1876Keywords:
music therapy, Alzheimer’s disease, neurodegenerative diseasesAbstract
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurological degenerative disease that is highly prevalent with no effective cure. Music therapy has emerged as a way to reduce stress and disruptive behavior. This study reviews and synthesizes the literature on the effects of music therapy on reducing symptoms of AD. Eleven studies were extracted from Google Scholar and included in a meta-analysis. Overall, music therapy had a large effect on reducing various AD symptoms (mean effect size: -2.35 ± .27). Three studies were analyzed to look at the specific effects of depression, which also was reduced by music therapy (mean effect size: -3.41± .68)). Our results suggest that music therapy may be an effective treatment for AD.
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