Assessing an Intergenerational Music Program Delivered by Adolescents to Older Adults With Declining Cognition

Summary

Intergenerational music programming has been shown to benefit both young people and older adults in terms of quality of life, social connection, and promotion of positive cross-age attitudes. During a time that older adults are facing increasing social isolation, a need exists to offer meaningful programming that can reach older adults living with memory loss. The investigators want to assess if an intergenerational music program that is delivered by adolescent music facilitators is feasible and appropriate to both the young musicians and the older adult participants. This program will be designed on Zoom but will able to be delivered in the same manner in-person, offering it flexibility to reach a variety of participants. This program is unique in that it brings together two populations who have shown to be positively affected by engaging in music - adolescents and older adults with memory loss. As a result of this work, teenage musicians will be empowered to adapt and share a music program utilizing best research practices and create new connections with an older generation. Older adults will receive a research-informed music program that will be geared to helping their musical understanding and participation, as well as an opportunity to create new connections with a younger generation. Findings from this work will generate a music program with clearly defined ingredients that can be delivered and is accepted by both its facilitators and participants, providing a foundation for future studies to assess outcomes such as social connection, cognitive benefits, and emotional well-being.

This program will be built carefully utilizing stakeholder engagement from the adolescent facilitators and older adult participants. Specifically, for Aim 1 the investigators will explore the feasibility of the music program by its facilitators by conducting in-depth interviews with a sample of adolescent facilitators before, during, and after they administer the music intervention to discuss how best to adapt the program, as well as collecting observations of the older adults to confirm engagement in the program. For Aim 2 the investigators will assess its fidelity as the adolescent facilitators implement the program and are assessed for adherence and competence. For Aim 3, the investigators will assess its appropriateness, as adolescent facilitators and older adults will engage in focus groups.

Conditions

• Dementia Alzheimers

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Intergenerational Music Program

Music activities will be lead by adolescent musicians for older adult participants.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Carnegie Mellon University

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Pittsburgh

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Jennie Dorris, MM · University of Pittsburgh

Study Design

Allocation

NA

Purpose

OTHER

Masking

NONE

Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age

65 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2021-01-04

Primary Completion

2022-06-01

Completion

2022-06-01

Countries

• United States

Study Locations