Effect of Music Therapy Services on the FIM Scores of Patients with Aphasia in Neurorehabilitation

Neurologic Music Therapy is a type of music therapy based in neuroscience research and is utilized in neurorehabilitation settings. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of music therapy services on Functional Independence Measure scores on patients with aphasia secondary to a stroke in a neurorehabilitation setting. Participants (N = 90) were adults 18 – 81 years old who were previous patients at a southeastern rehabilitation hospital between the years of 2016 and 2017. Participants were cross-matched into music groups and non-music groups based on age, gender, and if music therapy services were received and t-tests were calculated for comprehension, expression, and social interaction FIM score changes. Overall results indicated no significant differences between the music and non-music groups, although the Means for the music group were high than the non-music group. Findings suggested that music therapy is important in rehabilitation settings as it increases functional language scores. Limitations are discussed.