Effects of music therapy on facial expression of individuals with Parkinson's disease: A pilot study

Neurological degeneration associated with Parkinson's disease (PD) affects the verbal as well as the nonverbal communicative potential of individuals diagnosed with PD. Communicating with significant others is crucial to quality of life and maintaining healthy and satisfying relationships. Evidence indicates that Music Therapy (MT) improves communication in a range of neurologically impaired populations; however there is no research that has studied its effect on the facial expressions of PD patients. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of group music therapy on facial expression in individuals with PD.Ten patients diagnosed with PD were recruited from a large demographic study at the Haukeland Hospital Rehabilitation Centre in Bergen, Norway. Two groups, with five individuals each group, met once a week for a 60 minute music therapy session for 20 weeks. Facial expressions were measured using the Facial Action Coding System (FACS) tool, and the facial mobility and engagement evaluation. FACS results were measured twice by different observers to ensure stability (interrater reliability) of findings.Interrater reliability was found at ICC = 0.89. A large effect size was found in facial expression between pre- and post-test measurements taken during singing (ES = 0.9). A large effect size was found in both sets of data (singing and speaking) (ES = 0.8). A moderate effect size was found in facial expression between pre- and post-test measurements taken during speaking (ES = 0.5). We conclude that this MT program was found successful in significantly enhancing facial expression in individuals with PD.