The Effects of Group Music Therapy on the Emotional Health of Residents in Long-Term Care Facilities: A Pilot Study

Overview

The goal of this pilot study is to learn whether group music therapy improves the emotional health of residents living in long-term care facilities. It will also examine the feasibility of integrating an artificial intelligence (AI)-based emotion recognition model into routine psychosocial interventions. The main questions it aims to answer are: Does group music therapy improve positive affect and reduce negative affect, depression, and loneliness among long-term care residents? Are AI-based facial emotion recognition results consistent with residents' self-reported emotional assessments? Researchers will use a one-group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design to evaluate changes before and after a 6-week group music therapy program. The study will also compare subjective questionnaire results with objective facial emotion recognition outputs generated by the PaLI Gemma 2 multimodal model. Participants will: Attend one 60-minute group music therapy session per week for 6 weeks Complete emotional health questionnaires before the first session and after the sixth session Be recorded during sessions using a non-invasive camera system for facial emotion analysis Have their questionnaire results compared with AI-based emotion recognition outputs to evaluate consistency and feasibility This pilot study will provide preliminary evidence regarding both the psychological benefits of group music therapy and the feasibility of applying AI-supported multimodal emotion assessment in long-term care settings.

Taiwan is entering a super-aged society, and an increasing number of older adults reside in long-term care (LTC) facilities. Although institutional care provides medical and daily living support, many residents experience loneliness, depressive symptoms, and reduced emotional well-being. Non-pharmacological interventions such as group music therapy have demonstrated beneficial effects on mood regulation, social interaction, and psychological health. However, most previous studies have relied primarily on self-report questionnaires or observer-rated scales, which may be influenced by cognitive status, expressive ability, or assessment bias. This pilot study aims to evaluate both the psychological effects of group music therapy and the feasibility of integrating an artificial intelligence (AI)-based multimodal emotion recognition model into emotional assessment in LTC settings. Study Design This study uses a quasi-experimental one-group pretest-posttest design. Approximately 20 residents from a long-term care facility in central Taiwan will be recruited using convenience sampling. Inclusion criteria include: Age 65 years or older Residency in the facility for at least 3 months Possesses basic cognitive functions (0-2 errors on the SPMSQ scale) Ability to participate in group activities Provision of informed consent for participation and facial image collection Residents with severe dementia, major psychiatric disorders, neurodegenerative diseases, severe sensory impairments, or recent participation in other psychological or music therapy programs will be excluded. Intervention Participants will receive a 6-week group music therapy program. Each participant will attend one 60-minute session per week, for a total of 6 sessions. Sessions will be conducted in small groups (approximately 10 participants per group) and led by a trained music therapist with support from nursing staff and research personnel. Each session will include: Music listening using culturally familiar songs Instrument interaction (e.g., tambourines, hand bells, xylophones) Singing and vocal expression activities Short group sharing discussions to promote emotional expression and social connection The intervention is designed to progressively enhance emotional engagement, social interaction, and psychological comfort in a supportive group environment. Outcome Measures Emotional health outcomes will be assessed at two time points: T0 (baseline): Before the first session T1 (post-intervention): Within 24 hours after the sixth session Subjective measures include: International Positive and Negative Affect Schedule Short Form (I-PANAS-SF) Geriatric Depression Scale - 15 item version (GDS-15) UCLA Loneliness Scale Version 3 Barthel Index (functional status, baseline only) AI-Based Multimodal Emotion Analysis During each music therapy session, participants' facial images will be captured using a non-invasive camera system under standardized environmental conditions. The PaLI Gemma 2 multimodal model will analyze static facial images to generate: Categorical emotion outputs (e.g., happy, sad, angry, fear, surprise, disgust, neutral) Continuous emotion dimensions (valence and arousal values) Emotion recognition outputs from Session 1 (baseline representation) and Session 6 (post-intervention representation) will be compared with corresponding subjective questionnaire scores. Correlation analyses (Pearson or Spearman) will examine the consistency and complementary value between AI-based emotion detection and self-reported emotional states. Statistical Analysis Descriptive statistics will summarize demographic and baseline characteristics. Pre-post differences in emotional outcomes will be examined using: Paired t-tests for normally distributed data Wilcoxon signed-rank tests for non-normally distributed data Effect sizes (Cohen's dz or r) and 95% confidence intervals will be reported to support future sample size estimation for larger trials. Correlation analyses will evaluate agreement between subjective measures and AI-derived emotional indicators. Ethical Considerations The study will be approved by an Institutional Review Board (IRB) prior to implementation. Written informed consent will be obtained from all participants. Facial image data will be anonymized and used solely for emotion recognition analysis. No identity recognition will be performed. All data will be securely stored in encrypted databases, and participants may withdraw at any time without affecting their care. Significance This pilot study will provide preliminary evidence regarding: The effectiveness of group music therapy in improving emotional well-being among LTC residents. The feasibility of integrating AI-based multimodal emotion assessment into long-term care practice. Findings will inform the development of future large-scale trials and contribute to the advancement of technology-assisted psychosocial care models in aging societ