• Journal of Naturopathy
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.35-44
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• 2023

Background: The need to study the effects of concert oriented music therapy (COMT) on a diverse range of subjects. Purpose: This study aimed to verify the effectiveness of Concert Oriented Music Therapy (COMT), a technique based on active music activities, in alleviating depression among the elderly in a nursing home. Methods: COMT program was prepared, which was designed to enable participants to express and explore emotions through music in a creative environment, being divided into 'Therapeutic music making' and 'Concert activities,' The 70 elderly residents in a nursing facility were randomly assigned to either an experimental (n=35) or a control group (n=35). The 3 participants withdrew, and a total of 67 completed the COMT intervention program. Results: The experimental group receiving COMT intervention showed a significant reduction in the average GDS-K score from 20.34 to 15.18 (p<.001), with notable decreases observed in the cognitive function and depression factors. Conclusion: The COMT was found to effectively reduce depression, particularly, related to cognitive function, for the elderly residents in a nursing facilities. The COMT intervention program is expected to be beneficial in improving the quality of life for the elderly in a nursing home, susceptible to depression

• Journal of Naturopathy
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.46-56
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• 2020

Purpose: This study proposes a concert oriented music therapy (COMT) program which takes into account the personal and social factors of depression, and its clinical effects were validated on elderly persons with visual impairments who were susceptible to depression. The experiment was conducted on 34 elderly persons with visual impairments, randomly allocated to either the experimental group (n = 15) or the control group (n = 19). The COMT program was applied 20 times in total to the experimental group for 110 minutes every other week, for a duration of 10 months. The depression level was evaluated using the Korean form of the Geriatric Depression Scale (KGDS). The experimental results showed that the average KGDS score in the experimental group decreased by 4.1 points (19.4%), from 21.0 to 16.9, whereas it increased by 1.16 points (5.8%), from 19.95 to 21.11, in the control group. The reduction in the depression level was significant for the following 4 depression factors : decreased social interest (40%), negative thinking and the unhappiness feeling (20%), emotional discomfort (16.3%), and cognitive dysfunction (7.6%), whereas it was negligible in the factors of physical weakening and decreased vitality. The COMT program reduced the KGDS scores of the experimental group regardless of their experience in musical performance. In conclusion, the proposed COMT program proved to be efficacious in alleviating depression in elderly persons with visual impairments. In particular, it proved highly effective in helping with decreased social interest, namely, the social factor of depression which is not properly considered in existing music therapy methods.