Music Interventions for Chinese Patient with Parkinson's Disease: Alleviating Symptoms through Arts-based Interventions

Author

Yan-Jhu Su, Lesley UniversityFollow

Date of Award

Spring 5-10-2019

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

MA - Master of Arts

Department

Expressive Therapies

Advisor

Donna Owens

Abstract

Care for the elderly is increasingly important, especially in long-term care centers. How to maintain the quality of life of the elderly is a very important issue for a therapist. There are many therapists dedicated to developing unique expressive arts therapy treatments for residents in long-term care centers. For these customized treatments, therapists need to consider a number of factors, including the problems for referral, medications, and diagnosis. In addition, the patient's cultural background is one of the factors that must be considered in designing a treatment plan. This inquiry explores how music therapy interventions can help a patient from Eastern culture with Parkinson's disease in long term care system. This treatment plan will focus on alleviating Parkinson’s disease symptoms through arts-based interventions, helping the patient adapt to the new living environment, reducing their depression and self-isolation. Because the patient is from Eastern culture, the design of this intervention will be based on Peking drama and traditional Chinese arts. The design uses the familiar art form of the patient to help the patient adapt to the new living environment. In addition, the therapist spoke Chinese in the sessions. The results showed that the patient gradually adapted to this new long-term care facility.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Su, Yan-Jhu, "Music Interventions for Chinese Patient with Parkinson's Disease: Alleviating Symptoms through Arts-based Interventions" (2019). Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses. 142.
https://digitalcommons.lesley.edu/expressive_theses/142