Music Based Caregiving in Patients With Pain and Dementia

The main objective of this study is to evaluate the pain-relieving effect of a well-characterized non-pharmacological treatment program, music-based caregiving (MBC), to patients in nursing homes with dementia and pain. Patients with dementia disease will be recruited from nursing homes in Trondheim and Oslo, and each ward at the nursing homes will be cluster randomized into intervention - or control wards. Then the health care personnel in the intervention wards will receive education in MBC and perform the intervention during eight weeks. The hypothesis is that this non-pharmacological intervention will reduce pain intensity and improve general activity, as well as reduce other symptoms in nursing home patients with dementia and pain compared to baseline.