Telehealth education and music therapy for nursing-home residents during COVID19

ABSTRACT

Objective: This project evaluated the effect of patient education and music therapy delivered by telehealth on depression related to COVID19 among rural nursing home residents. Method(s) This was a prospective, pilot intervention involving 56 residents from three rural nursing homes. The study included a convenience sample of residents at three rural nursing homes. The mean age for the three groups ranged from 67-81 years of age. Participants received either patient education or combined patient education and music therapy as depression interventions. The primary outcome was the change in PHQ-9 scores from baseline to the end of an eight-week period. The secondary outcome was resident satisfaction as measured through an evaluation survey. Result(s) Of the 56 participants enrolled, 28 completed the study and were included in data analysis. Low pretreatment PHQ-9 implied minimal depression. Summary statistics show a 1.53 mean PHQ-9 change for those receiving education-only (53.6%) and a -1.16 PHQ-9 for those receiving combined therapy (46.4%) (p = 0.092). Results did not demonstrate positive outcomes on depression. A potential difference was noted among each facility. Two-thirds of participants rated their experiences as good to excellent. Conclusions and Implications It appears that education played a positive role, yet music therapy delivered as telehealth did not show improvement in depression. Further studies are needed to determine the potential impact of non-pharmacological interventions in rural nursing home residents during the pandemic.