Australian research reveals dementia patients soothed with music

Main Category: Nursing / Midwifery
Article Date: 21 Jan 2004 - 0:00 PDT

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The results of a study into a group of dementia patients at a nursing home in the Newcastle area north of Sydney has found that playing Baroque music for a few hours a day led to an improvement in behaviour.

Researcher Dr Christian Heim says his team's six week study at Maroba nursing home in Waratah (Australia) found behaviour such as aggression and shouting was reduced by over 40 per cent in the 14 patients observed.

Dr Heim says the music of Baroque composers such as Vivaldi and Bach was chosen for its distinctive repetitive and calming qualities.

He says he was surprised by the positive results.

'It would be hard to tell if there was an immediate effect,' he said.

'We just found that [in] almost every dementia patient these behaviours calmed down significantly, so we were excited by that.'

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