The Effects of Live Patterned Sensory Enhancement on Group Exercise Participation and Mood in Older Adults in Rehabilitation

Background: Older adults in rehabilitation often experience barriers to exercise, which may impede recovery. Patterned sensory enhancement (PSE) is a neurologic music therapy intervention for sensorimotor rehabilitation. The use of live music during patterned sensory enhancement (live-PSE) may be particularly beneficial in meeting patient needs and improving older adults' exercise participation and mood during therapy. Objective: To examine the effects of live-PSE on exercise output, exercise adherence, ratings of perceived exertion, and mood for 24 older adult inpatients in a rehabilitation facility attending a group exercise program. Methods: Using a within-subjects design, results from sessions involving exercise instruction and live-PSE (experimental condition) were compared with sessions of exercise instruction alone (control condition). A logbook documenting participant comments and behaviors was also maintained. Results: There were no significant between condition differences for the exercise outcome measures. Between condition session outcome measures for mood were non-significant for all profiles except confusion, which suggested that some participants might have become more confused during sessions with live-PSE. Unsolicited participant comments and behaviors recorded in the logbook indicated that 21 participants perceived experimental sessions positively, 2 reacted negatively, and 1 did not express any preferences. Conclusions: Live-PSE did not significantly improve exercise outcomes and there were indications of increased confusion during experimental sessions for some participants. However, participant comments and behaviors also suggested positive experiences during sessions with live-PSE. Further research to investigate these discrepant results is warranted, and might best be explored using a mixed methods approach.