Purpose or Research Questions: The purpose of this project is to provide a systematic review on available research on how therapy techniques involving the use of music affect the cognitive or communication outcomes or symptoms of dementia in elderly patients with dementia. Background: There is limited research on non-pharmacological methods for treating patients with dementia. Alternative treatments to medicine can be financially beneficial and also have the potential to reduce negative side effects of drugs. One potential avenue for behavioral treatment is interventions that incorporate music. Methods/Proposed Methods: For this systematic review, the researchers searched CINAHL Plus with Full Text, PubMed, and Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition for any applicable research up to the end of January 2017 with the following search terms: (dementia OR Alzheimer’s OR memory loss OR cognitive impairment) AND (therapy OR treatment OR intervention OR strategies OR techniques) AND (music*) AND (cogniti* OR communicat* OR language). The inclusion/exclusion criteria were: exclude studies in which the studied population has coexisting neurological impairments (not dementia), only include studies published in English, and only include studies reporting original data. The cognitive and communication outcomes are defined as those involving memory, executive functioning, and language. The original search resulted in 265 articles. After the two researchers completed a title/abstract review independently, 74 articles remained. The inter-rater reliability was found to be 80% and any disparities were discussed and resolved. Then, the researchers independently completed full text reviews. The reliability was 92.5% and any disparities were discussed and resolved. Results/Anticipated Results: A total of 11 articles were reviewed for evidence appraisal after the full text review. Four articles were qualitative studies, five were randomized controlled trials, one was a clinical controlled trial, and one was a cohort-prospective/retrospective study. The researchers determined all to be good quality studies except for two, which were determined to be of lesser quality. The researchers’ inter-rater reliability for the quality appraisal was 85.7%, and all disagreements were discussed and resolved. Effects of therapy and interventions involving music on language and cognition aspects of dementia will be reported. Discussion Music therapies could be a cost effective, clinically significant way to aid behavioral or emotional outcomes. However, there is varying research on the effects of music on cognitive outcomes for dementia patients. Clinical implications and future directions for research will be discussed
