Making Connections Thru Music (MCTM)

Healthcare systems around the world, including within the United States, have long-established shortages of trainedcaregivers (WHO, 2016; Jones, Liu, Murfield, & Moyle, 2020). The American Health Care Association (2019) states that"the health care system has experienced a shortage of trained caregivers for critical roles for some time." This scarcitydirectly impacts the 45,800 Long-Term Care (LTC) communities throughout the U.S. (Harris-Kojetin et al, 2016). Concurrent with this staff shortage, more than half of LTC residents have some form of dementia (Alzheimer's Association,2019). These two issues create a serious public health concern, since dementia is associated with a variety of behavioralexpressions, such as aggression, anxiety, and agitation (Cummings, 1997). Behavioral expressions of dementia can besuccessfully managed with the use of tailored, psychosocial interventions and communication support (Vernooij-Dassen etal., 2010; Fazio et al., 2018). Unfortunately, existing staff shortages make the facilitation of such interventions challenging. One powerful and often-overlooked approach to ameliorating staffing shortages involves the utilization of retiredvolunteers to facilitate interventions for persons with dementia (PWD). Based on the nearly universal love of music and a promising pilot study, the product to be developed and tested in this STTR will build upon the combined prior work of the Principal Investigators. Making Connections Thru Music (MCTM), an urgently needed product, will enable retired volunteers to facilitate an evidence-based music and discussion intervention with PWD. MCTM aims to improve engagement, enhance quality of life, and reduce behavioral expressions in PWD. The intervention will consist of two main components: (1) a comprehensive online training course for volunteers, which will provide a general overview of dementia, demonstrate effective communication strategies to use with PWD, and instruct volunteers to effectively facilitate MCTM sessions, and (2) an app containing a structured MCTM intervention protocol and toolkit, which will be the means by which volunteers facilitate MCTM. MCTM will be marketed to LTC communities.

The MPES is an observational scale that measures four types of engagement: Constructive Engagement, Passive Engagement, Distracted Engagement, and Non-Engagement / Apathy The MPES also measures Pleasure, defined as clearly observable smiling or laughing. The MPES is an observational scale that measures four types of engagement: Constructive Engagement, Passive Engagement, Distracted Engagement, and Non-Engagement / Apathy The MPES also measures Pleasure, defined as clearly observable smiling or laughing. The Menorah Park Engagement Scale measures four types of engagement. Constructive Engagement, Passive Engagement, Other Engagement, and Non-Engagement. It also measures pleasure.

The Neuropsychiatric Inventory-Nursing Home is a comprehensive assessment of psychopathology in persons with dementia, focused on people residing in nursing homes.

Inclusion Criteria: Volunteers must be aged 55+ and speak/read conversational English. Staff participants must be at least 18 years old, work within a residential care facility participating in the study, and speak and read English. Exclusion Criteria: Volunteers will be excluded if they are diagnosed with dementia based on self-report and/or if they score 23 or lower on theMini Mental State Exam (MMSE; Folstein et al., 1975). Such a score would be indicative of possible cognitive impairment. Staff members will be excluded if they work third shift only. PWD Residents with dementia must be diagnosed with dementia (any type), score 10 or above on the MMSE, be aged 65+, and speak/read conversational English. PWD will be excluded if they show signs of rapid physical or cognitive decline (based upon staff report or as evidenced by information gained during screening).