Music Therapy: An Article Critique

The author did place the study problem within the context of existing knowledge. The author described in the article the situation for elderly patients in institutional setting wherein their own cognitive loss inhibits their ability to communicate to the extent that agitative and disruptive behaviors appear to them to be their only recourse to make their desires known. The author pointed-out that mealtimes frequently are focal points of disquiet for such patients, and that intervention strategies, including the music therapy addressed in the research reported in the article, may create an environment that will lead to reductions in the frequency and intensity of agitative and disruptive behavior.

The study findings may not solve a problem related to nursing practice; however, the findings of the study most certainly do provide information that will be useful to nurses in the development of strategies designed to minimize disquiet among elderly patients at mealtimes. One major problem with the findings of this study with respect to the solution of nursing problems is t

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variable definition had no intervening character. Rather, the definition of mealtime described the setting of the research. The independent variable "quiet music" was defined operationally as "classical music a with a tempo between 50 and 70 beats per minute." Thus, the independent variable was measurable. The dependent variable "agitated behavior" was defined operationally within the context of a list of behaviors that were considered to be agitative in character. In the study reported in the article, the number of these listed behaviors exhibited by a subject during a specific mealtime period were counted. Thus, the dependent variable was measurable. As stated above, a formal hypothesis was not stated in the article. The inferred hypothesis, however, held that "the introduction of quiet music in a patient's environment at mealtime will reduce the level of agitated behavior exhibited by the patient during the mealtime period." The level of inquiry in this study was probabilistic. The inferred hypothesis held that agitated behavior would occur more often when quiet music was not introduced into a patient's environment than such behavior would occur when quiet music was introduced into a patient's environment. IV. Meth
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Behavior Elderly, III Variables/Hypotheses, CRITIQUE Research, IV Methodology, Alzheimer's Disease, VI Application, Theoretical Framework, Inventory CMAI, quiet music, elderly patients, agitated behavior, References Denney, elderly patients significant, significant dementia, reported article, institutionalized elderly patients, patients significant dementia, patients significant, institutionalized elderly, study reported, inferred hypothesis, stated explicitly, study reported article, Gerontological Nursing, stated explicitly article,
Approximate Word count = 1651
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)