The Effects of Group Music Therapy on the Emotional Health of Residents in Long-Term Care Facilities: A Pilot Study

Enrolling by invitation · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Loneliness, Negative Affect, Music Therapy, Long-term Care Facility, Emotion Recognition

In brief

The goal of this pilot study is to learn whether group music therapy improves the emotional health of residents living in long-term care facilities. It will also examine the feasibility of integrating an artificial intelligence (AI)-based emotion recognition model into routine psychosocial interventions. The main questions it aims to answer are: Does group music therapy improve positive affect and reduce negative affect, depression, and loneliness among long-term care residents? Are AI-based facial emotion recognition results consistent with residents' self-reported emotional assessments? Researchers will use a one-group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design to evaluate changes before and after a 6-week group music therapy program. The study will also compare subjective questionnaire results with objective facial emotion recognition outputs generated by the PaLI Gemma 2 multimodal model. Participants will: Attend one 60-minute group music therapy session per week for 6 weeks Complete emotional health questionnaires before the first session and after the sixth session Be recorded during sessions using a non-invasive camera system for facial emotion analysis Have their questionnaire results compared with AI-based emotion recognition outputs to evaluate consistency and feasibility This pilot study will provide preliminary evidence regarding both the psychological benefits of group music therapy and the feasibility of applying AI-supported multimodal emotion assessment in long-term care settings.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT07536360

Run by

Yu Chia Chang

People needed

20

Starts

2026-02-18

Expected to finish

2027-01-31

Last updated by the study team

2026-04-17

Who can join

Age: 65 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Aged 65 years or older
• Resident of the long-term care facility for at least 3 months
• SPMSQ scale error 0-2 questions
• Medically stable and able to participate in group activities
• Able to communicate and complete questionnaires (with assistance if needed)
• Willing to provide written informed consent, including consent for facial image collection

You may not qualify if…

• Diagnosed with severe dementia
• Diagnosed with major psychiatric disorders
• Diagnosed with neurodegenerative diseases that significantly impair participation
• Severe hearing or visual impairment that prevents engagement in music therapy activities
• Participation in other psychological therapy or music therapy programs within the past 3 months
• Acute medical condition requiring hospitalization or intensive treatment

Where it is running

• China Medical University — Taichung, Taichung City, Taiwan

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

Trial information comes from ClinicalTrials.gov and is refreshed daily. TrialsForMe does not provide medical care and does not run the studies it lists.