Abstract:
Thailand is nowadays facing the rapidly growing population of the older person. Many of Thai elderly people have been found that they are living at homes alone and inactive affecting their quality of life (QOL). Music activities can help improve the quality of life by facilitating and stimulating the elderly to be active with the non-verbal expression of emotional and physical aspects. This study aims to evaluate the effects of Angklung intervention model on the quality of life among elderly people in Samutprakarn province, Thailand.This study was a quasi–experimental study with the control group. The 118 elderly people were assigned into two groups, which were 59 elderly living in Maung district, Samutprakarn province for the intervention group and 59 elderly living in Bangpakong district, Chacheongsao province for control group. The Angklung intervention was conducted and the activities took 2 hours per day once a week for 8 weeks. Data were collected at baseline (T1), 8th week (T2), 12th week (T3), and 16th (T4) after the intervention implemented. The quality of life was measured by WHOQOL-OLD. General Linear Model repeated-measures ANOVA and ANCOVA were used to assess the mean difference between groups and within group overtimes.The overall quality of life after implemented Angklung intervention model significantly increased in the intervention group compared with the control group. When divided the quality of life into 6 facets: the sensory Abilities (SAB), autonomy (AUT), past, present, and future activities (PPF), social participation (SOP), death and dying (DAD), and intimacy (INT), there were also statistical differences (p-value < 0.05). The results from General Linear Model repeated-measures ANCOVA was shown that the total quality of life (QOL) was different after the intervention with statistically significant (p-value < 0.01). When considering each facets of QOL, all facets were significantly different (p-value < 0.01). This study provides an overview of music activity role in improving the quality of life among the elderly and can be the guideline in being engaged in music activities that can help the elderly connect their life experiences with other people. Consequently, music activity can be considered for applying and developing as the simple and cost-effective intervention for improving the quality of life in the elderly community further for the other settings.
