Experiences of Music Listening and Music Therapy in Acute Stroke Rehabilitation

Forsblom, Anita Experiences of music listening and music therapy in acute stroke rehabilitation Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä, 2012, 63 p. (Jyväskylä Studies in Humanities ISSN 1459-4323 (nid.), 1459-4331 (PDF); 192) ISBN 978-951-39-4934-1 (nid.) ISBN 978-951-39-4935-8 (PDF) Diss. Stroke claims the lives of nearly six million people each year. It is the second biggest cause of death for people over the age of 60. Every year in Finland, approximately 15 000 people suffer a stroke, and it is widely accepted that the prevalence of stroke will increase as the average age of the population increases. As we come to a better understanding of stroke recovery and the most effective rehabilitation strategies, most discussions on the subject usually focus on how pharmacotherapy and physical and cognitive therapies can remodel and affect the plasticity of the brain. However, very little is known about how music or music therapy affects this plasticity, nor how patients experience this kind of therapy. The present work explores the personal and subjective experiences of patients who have listened to music or audio books after acute stroke, as documented in material from the MuKu-project, published during years 2004-2006. The participants consisted of 60 people from the Department of Neurology at the Helsinki University Central Hospital who had been admitted to the hospital for treatment of acute stroke. Results showed that patients in the music listening group experienced less depressive and confused moods. Also recovery in the domains of verbal memory and focused attention improved more in the music group than in the audio book and control groups (study I). The therapeutic role of music listening for a smaller group of these patients was then investigated more deeply and the results suggest that music listening can be used to relax, improve mood, and provide both physical and mental activation during the early stages of recovery from stroke (study II). Study III investigated how music and audio book listeners differ in their experiences, and it was found that music listening was specifically associated with better relaxation, increased motor activity and improved mood, while both music and audio book listening provided refreshing stimulation and evoked thoughts and memories about the past. The rehabilitation process was also looked at from the perspective of music therapists (N=6) who have been specifically working with acute stroke patients. The results shed light on the kind of tacit knowledge that music therapists require, and also show that there is a special need for multidisciplinary knowledge and multimodal training approaches in the field of music therapy education (study IV). This work increases understanding of how music affects emotional processing from the point of view patients, and how music listening and music therapy can be used in the treatment of acute stroke. It helps to develop the quality of treatment of patients in stroke units and aftercare units.