Fall Prevention in a Geriatric Nursing Home Setting Using the Music of Nolwenn Leroy

The Nolwenn Effect in a Geriatric Nursing Home Setting

Falls are the largest cause of death in the elderly and those with dementia have even a higher incidence of falling. The purpose of this study is to determine whether listening to the Music of Nolwenn Leroy is effective in fall prevention in those elderly patients who are residents in a Geriatric Nursing Home Facility. The music of Nolwenn Leroy has been shown to be effective in fall reduction in a different setting (Posturographic Changes and Fall Prevention associated with Music Therapy: The Nolwenn Effect (USA ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00121693) )with results better than listening to Mozart of any other music.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Ataxia
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Music Therapy

Detailed Description

Falls are a serious health issue and are the greatest cause of death in the elderly. The use of the music of Nolwenn Leroy in fall prevention has been reported at a major scientific meeting Posturographic Changes and Fall Prevention associated with Music Therapy: The Nolwenn Effect (USA ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00121693) featured at the 7th Annual American Music Therapy Association Conference in Orlando, Florida, Nov 15-20, 2005 and is in publication in the indexed literature. Decreasing falls in a geriatric nursing home setting is associated with the saving of lives. We propose the utilization of the Nolwenn Effect in our resident geriatric population and comparing fall rates to those we have carefully recorded in the past.

Daily listening to selections from Nolwenn Leroy's CD "Nolwenn" have been played for one month in the community gathering areas of our fourth floor dementia unit in the morning for approximately 5-10 minutes. This unit has an increased rate of falls due to the characteristics of its residents and our one month retrospective study has demonstrated a statistical reduction in the rate of falls subsequent to the daily listening of Nolwenn Leroy music. We propose to expand the listening of music to the entire building and study the Nolwenn Effect on the fall rate of all residents over the calendar year 2006.

Preliminary observations have been associated with a decrease rate of falls on our dementia floor when compared to our previous fall rates. Our nursing staff is well trained in fall reporting and will continue to do so in the manner previously established before implementation of this study. This study is dependant upon the utilization of fall statistics previously established at our institution. The incorporation of these statistics will allow us to demonstrate a cost effective method of reducing falls that might save lives, evoke societal change and act as a model for other Geriatric Nursing Home settings.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 200
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Georgia
    • Atlanta, Georgia, United States, 30329
      • Budd Terrace Geriatric Nursing Home

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 50 years and older (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Full time resident in Geriatric Facility

Exclusion Criteria:

• All others

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: SCREENING
• Allocation: NA
• Interventional Model: SINGLE_GROUP
• Masking: NONE

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: Balance and Music Listening; Music therapy	Behavioral: Music Therapy; Listening to Music while standing

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Changes in Fall rate	immediate pre and post balance testing

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Carrick Institute for Graduate Studies
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Frederick R Carrick, PhD FACCN, Carrick Institute for Graduate Studies; Study Director: Julie Kinney, MT-BC, Carrick Institute for Graduate Studies; Principal Investigator: Elizabeth Eakes, MT-BC, Carrick Institute for Graduate Studies

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: December 1, 2005
• Primary Completion (ACTUAL): October 1, 2006
• Study Completion (ACTUAL): March 1, 2007

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 3, 2006
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 3, 2006
• First Posted (ESTIMATE): January 5, 2006

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (ESTIMATE): January 27, 2016
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 26, 2016
• Last Verified: January 1, 2016

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Fall Prevention, Music Therapy, Geriatric, Nursing Home
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Nervous System Diseases; Neurologic Manifestations; Dyskinesias; Ataxia
• Other Study ID Numbers: CI-01-01-06-01

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO