The effects of music and guided imagery on self-esteem of elderly female care home residents

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of using a music and guided imagery procedure to increase self-esteem in elderly females residing in residential care homes. The subjects were 26 females, aged 69 to 100 years old, of which 14 were randomly assigned to the experimental group, and 12 were randomly assigned to the control group. Each of the women met with the researcher individually for 30-minute sessions twice weekly for three weeks. The women in the experimental group listened to a tape recording of music and guided imagery, while the women in the control group listened to a tape recording of poetry. Eight women in the experimental group, and six women in the control group, were randomly selected to receive the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale as a pretest. The scale was administered to all 26 women as a posttest. Analyses of the pretest and posttest scores were completed using the chi-squares test of homogeneity, which indicated that the two groups were homogeneous; the Wilcoxon signed-ranks test, which indicated no significant change from pretest to posttest scores for the experimental group; and the Mann-Whitney U-test, which indicated no significant difference in posttest scores between the experimental and control groups. Although the statistical results showed no significant gain in self-esteem, there are indications that further research is needed to determine more conclusively the effects of individual music and guided imagery sessions in this population.

Note: Rosenberg-Self-Esteem-Scale.

Keyword(s): music, guided-imagery, self-esteem, elderly, female, nursing-home, residential-care.

Zurück | Weiter