MUSic Listening Impact on QUality of Life, Brain and Burnout of ALzheimer' Patients Informal Caregivers (MUSIQUAL+)

Caen University Hospital

Status: Not yet enrolling

Conditions: Alzheimer Dementia (AD); Caregivers

Treatments: Behavioral: Neuropsychology assessment; Other: brain imaging examination; Behavioral: listening intervention

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT07159542

24-0160

2024-A01480-47 (Registry Identifier)

Details and patient eligibility

About

Although life expectancy is increasing, the risk of dependence and/or loss of autonomy is increasing too with ageing. Alzheimer's disease affects many people and this kind of disease is constantly growing. Today, relatives of these sick people are increasingly taking on the role of carer to help them remain at home as long as possible. This situation of assistance has often a negative impact on the quality of life of the caregiver, which in some cases can lead to the caregiver burnout and increase the risk factors for developing pathological ageing. This situation can also damage the relationship and the quality of interactions between patient/caregiver dyad. Non-pharmacological therapies and the use of digital tools appear to be promising avenues to fight psychological distress and social isolation, but also to improve the quality and duration of homecare services, by promoting the autonomy of the patient. The MUSIQUAL+ study aims to evaluate the impact of music listening offered to caregivers, alone or with their sick relative, on the quality of life and the exhaustion felt by the caregiver. Three times 20-minute sessions a week of music listening at home through the use of a tablet application, for 12 weeks, will be proposed. In addition to the collection of subjective feelings of the caregivers, a neuropsychological evaluation of the patient and the caregiver will be carried out on 90 dyads divided. Finally, in order to better understand the cerebral mechanisms involved and to provide evidence of the effect of this intervention, an EEG recording will be made before and after the musical listening. This study proposes a therapeutic and preventive alternative to drug treatments and to the currently unsatisfactory support of patients and their caregivers in distress; its benefits will be assessed too.

Enrollment: 90 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Native language: French

• Medical, neurological, neuropsychological and neuroradiological depth in accordance with the criteria for inclusion and exclusion-specific population, that is to say:

  • Informal Caregivers: Being a carer for someone with neurodegenerative cognitive disorders (NCD), living at home, without memory complaints, normal performances compared to the age and the educational level for all tests of the diagnostic battery.
  • Patients with neurodegenerative cognitive disorders: presenting neurodegenerative cognitive disorders, have an identified informal caregiver.

Exclusion criteria

• A chronic neurological, psychiatric, endocrine, hepatic or infectious complaint
• A history of major disease (an uncontrolled diabetes, a lung, heart, metabolic, hematologic, endocrine disease or a severe cancer);
• A medication that may interfere with memory or metabolic measures

Trial design

Primary purpose: Supportive Care

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Factorial Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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90 participants in 3 patient groups

CONTROL

Active Comparator group

Description:

listening podcast (verbal) in dyads during 12 weeks

Treatment:

Behavioral: listening intervention

Other: brain imaging examination

Behavioral: Neuropsychology assessment

MUSIC

Active Comparator group

Description:

listening music during 12 weeks caregivers alone

Treatment:

Behavioral: listening intervention

Other: brain imaging examination

Behavioral: Neuropsychology assessment

MUSIC+

Experimental group

Description:

listening music in dyads during 12 weeks

Treatment:

Behavioral: listening intervention

Other: brain imaging examination

Behavioral: Neuropsychology assessment