The effect of music therapy interventions to increase the psychosocial well-being of older adults living in independent and assisted living communities

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of group music therapy sessions on the psychosocial well-being of older adults living in assisted and independent living communities. Pre-and posttest was used in two different communities with twenty one participants who engaged in group music therapy sessions for eight consecutive weeks. All sessions included following interventions: music listening, singing, lyric analysis, and music-assisted movements. The researcher tested and compared participants' life satisfaction, happiness, self-esteem, and social interaction by conducting and analyzing pre and posttests. The researcher also examined whether participants' demographic variables such as age and gender would influence their psychosocial well-being. Results indicated that there were significant effect of group music therapy sessions on their life satisfaction, self-esteem, and social interaction. Further analyses of participants' demographic variables on their psychosocial well-being showed that gender indicated significant influence on their self-esteem and social interaction. These findings of the present study have implicated that the group music therapy sessions may increase the level of psychosocial well-being of older adults living in independent and assisted living communities.