Dementia Care Practice

Background: Singing improves mood, social, and physical well-being (Pentikainen et al., 2021). Choral singing has therefore gained recognition as a highly recommended activity for older adults and persons with dementia to fight isolation (Petrovsky et al., 2020; Sakamoto et., 2023). In a previous study, using qualitative measures, we demonstrated virtual sing-along and choral singing offered by the Chicago-based Sounds Good Choir and were associated with improved anxiety, emotional, and physical well-being (Schafer et al., 2023) using qualitative, but not fully quantitative measures. The goal of this study was to determine whether in-person choral singing and virtual sing-along programs would improve older-adults well-being as measures by 7 quantitative surveys.

Methods: Participants were aged 55 and older. The sing-along program engaged participants in virtual singing-along to familiar music weekly for a year. The choir program consisted of 14 in-person rehearsals to learn different parts of choral pieces. Following the program, self-report assessments were solicited via 21 Likert scale questions covering 7 areas of well-being (Table 1). Questions were developed from previous program evaluations and modeled off existing validated assessments of well-being (Topp et al, 2015; Barrett & Murk, 2006; Dunn, 2008). Data were compared across program types using ANOVA, with Bonferroni corrected post-hoc pairwise t test comparisons.

Result: Participants reported improvements in all aspects of well-being in both programs (Figure 1). Two areas improved across the board with no effect of program type - normalcy/structure and emotional. ANOVA indicated four well-being areas were improved significantly more in choir participants than sing-along (Figure 2) - social (Q2-4, p<0.001), intellectual (Q1-4, p<0.001), physical (Q2, p<0.01), and spiritual (Q1, p<0.01). Connection to past was endorsed significantly more by sing-along participants (p<0.01).

Conclusion: Both choral and sing-along programs improved all aspects of well-being with choral singing showing more effect in social, intellectual, physical, and spiritual well-being, and sing-along achieving more connection to the past. Our results provide preliminary evidence that our quantitative measures can capture participants' experiences. While a larger controlled study is necessary for confirmation, our findings may suggest that depending on feasibility, either program may be utilized for measurable well-being effects in older adults.