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Arts & Communication Music therapy and elderly people in home care

2.3. Evaluation the realm of music therapy. Furthermore, the pre-selection

The individual assessment sessions were conducted both of items was necessary due to the extensive nature of the
at the beginning and the end of the treatment, with a complete scales, which would have been impractical to use
12-week interval between them. All evaluative sessions within the available evaluation time. In addition, many of
were conducted by two blinded researchers-observers the omitted items did not align with the objectives and/or
who were unaware of the patients’ group assignments. the patient profiles in the present study. Instead, specific
Each evaluative session had a duration of 60 min and music therapy procedures were employed to diagnose and
adhered to a standardized protocol of activities and music stimulate the most relevant aspects for each individual.
therapy procedures developed during pilot research, which In the case of IMTAP, this measure is in agreement with
remained consistent across all assessment sessions. All the instrument’s definitions since the scale can be used
sessions were recorded for subsequent analysis and result either comprehensively or selectively in the required
review, with permission granted through the signature of domains and subdomains [34-36] . In the case of SEMPA, the
the Terms of Consent or Assent. authors affirm that the scale is a versatile and flexible tool,
adaptable to different applications, enabling evaluators to
Evaluations were conducted using the Individualized focus on competencies that are most pertinent to their
[34]
Music Therapy Assessment Profile (IMTAP) and system specific objectives .
[19]
of music therapy evaluation for people with Alzheimer’s
and other dementias (SEMPA) . The IMTAP scale 2.4. Data analysis
[19]
is a validated music therapy evaluation tool in Brazil, A Microsoft Excel spreadsheet was used to input and
suitable for assessing individuals with multiple disabilities, manage the evaluation data. A numerical code was
communication disorders, severe emotional disturbances, established to represent responses recorded on the SEMPA
social problems, and learning difficulties across all age scale, allowing for quantitative data analysis. Responses
groups [34-36] . It comprises ten independent domains: were rated on a scale ranging from 0 to 5, with a direct
oral motor skills, gross motor skills, fine motor skills, relationship to the degree of success in the selected
sensory skills, cognitive skills, receptive communication response options. For the IMTAP scale, the standard
or auditory perception, expressive communication, quantitative scoring format provided by the scale itself
musicality, social skills, and emotional skills [34-36] . Each was used. Patient scores on these scales were standardized
of these domains includes several subdomains that span and transformed into percentages for analysis. The total
the evaluated skills with a quantitative scoring format percentage score for each scale was also calculated and is
proportional to the success in the assessed ability. In total, presented in the results under the title of “Total.”
there are 76 fundamental abilities distributed among
these subdomains . All fundamental subdomains of The data were analyzed through the following methods:
[36]
the IMTAP scale were used, as they encompass essential (i) a comparison between the control and intervention
capacities related to each human dimension considered in groups for sample characterization, (ii) an evaluation
this study. of inter-rater reliability through evaluations, and (iii) a
The SEMPA scale was originally developed in Spain comparison between the initial and final conditions to assess
for assessing patients with Alzheimer’s disease and treatment efficacy. Statistical analyses were performed
other dementias . This scale is designed to evaluate the using the SPSS 20.0 software, with a significance level of
[19]
adaptive areas of development most relevant to music P ≤ 0.05 consistently sought. Due to the non-parametric
therapy sessions for individuals with Alzheimer’s disease data distribution, Pearson’s Rho was calculated for inter-
and other dementias. Its content is categorized into rater reliability, the Mann–Whitney Test for independent
four macro areas: psychomotor, perceptual-cognitive, samples, and the Wilcoxon Test for related samples.
communication-language, and socioemotional. Isolated 3. Results
items were carefully selected to align with all four domains
of the scale while remaining consistent with the objectives 3.1. Sample characteristics and inter-rater reliability
and context of this research . At the conclusion of the evaluations, the intervention
[19]
The selection of specific items from both scales group comprised ten participants, while the control group
was guided by the research objectives, context, and had 8, as two patients or their relatives from the control
characteristics of the study subjects (see Supplementary group withdrew from the study. The average age remained
Material for the list of selected items). The main objective similar between the groups, with an average age of 87 years
was to encompass a comprehensive view of the assisted in the intervention group and 87.4 years in the control
elderly and evaluate as many dimensions as possible within group. There was a diversity of diagnoses and complaints

Volume 1 Issue 2 (2023) 4 https://doi.org/10.36922/ac.0396