While memory loss is generally thought of as the hallmark of dementia, behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia like agitation, aggression, anxiety, and hallucinations are nearly universal, affecting almost all patients with advanced dementia. These behavioral disturbances are often the trigger for nursing home placement, and they can be highly distressing for both patients and their care partners. In today’s episode, Matt and Lauren speak with Dr. Ellen McCreedy, a researcher from the Brown School of Public Health who has conducted a study of personalized music intervention called Music & Memory for people living with dementia in nursing homes. Dr. McCreedy is a gerontologist and health services researcher who focuses on evaluation of non-pharmacologic interventions for managing behavioral disturbances of people living with dementia.

Ellen McCreedy, PhD, MPH Faculty Profile

Articles from Episode:

Sisti A, Gutman R, Mor V, Dionne L, Rudolph JL, Baier RR, McCreedy EM. Using Structured Observations to Evaluate the Effects of a Personalized Music Intervention on Agitated Behaviors and Mood in Nursing Home Residents With Dementia: Results From an Embedded, Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2024 Mar;32(3):300-311. doi: 10.1016/j.jagp.2023.10.016. Epub 2023 Nov 2. PMID: 37973488; PMCID: PMC10922136.

McCreedy EM, Gutman R, Baier R, Rudolph JL, Thomas KS, Dvorchak F, Uth R, Ogarek J, Mor V. Measuring the effects of a personalized music intervention on agitated behaviors among nursing home residents with dementia: design features for cluster-randomized adaptive trial. Trials. 2021 Oct 7;22(1):681. doi: 10.1186/s13063-021-05620-y. PMID: 34620193; PMCID: PMC8496617.

The transcript for this episode can be found here.

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