Active music making and leisure activities for people with intellectual disabilities: A cluster randomized pilot study

Abstract

Aim: A pilot cluster randomized controlled trial was performed to evaluate the effects of a music group intervention and a leisure activities group intervention on well-being, self-esteem, social acceptance, challenging behaviour and three components of executive functions (inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility and visual working memory) of adults with intellectual disabilities (ID).

Method: Twenty-nine participants living in four residential facilities for people with ID were randomized into a music or a leisure activities group intervention. Sixteen weekly sessions of one hour were performed with six to eight participants per group. Measurements were carried out at baseline, post-intervention and 11 weeks follow- up. Results were analysed with linear mixed models.

Results: The leisure activities group intervention improved more than the music group intervention on internalizing behaviour overall and on inhibitory control at post-intervention. However, further analyses showed that this improvement was only significant in one of the two leisure activities facilities.

Conclusion: A leisure activities group intervention seems a promising intervention to improve internalizing behaviour and inhibitory control of younger adults with mild ID. Implications for the delivery of leisure activities group interventions and especially music group interventions are discussed.

What this paper adds: Involvement in leisure activities of people with ID is associated with better well-being, an improvement in social skills and a reduction in emotional and behavioural problems. Active music making, as a specific form of leisure activities, seems to improve well-being, social acceptance and challenging behaviour (CB) as well. Moreover, in different (non-clinical) groups a significant effect of active music making has been found on self-esteem and executive functioning (EF). So far, little attention has been paid to the possible positive effects of active music making on adults with ID. In the current paper, a randomized controlled trial (RCT) was conducted to compare the post-intervention and follow-up measurements with baseline measurements between a music group intervention and a leisure activities group intervention on well-being, self-esteem, social acceptance, CB and EF in adults with ID. Multilevel models were used to detect possible intervention effects of 16 weekly sessions. Overall, inhibitory control and internalizing behaviour improved more amongst the participants of the leisure activities group than amongst the participants of the music group. This was mainly the case for younger participants who had mild ID. These effects are discussed and recommendations regarding the improvement of a music intervention for people with ID are presented.

Keywords: Challenging behaviour; Executive functioning; Intellectual disabilities; Intervention; Leisure; Music.