2011 Volume 8 Pages 47-52
The group chair exercise with music therapy (GEMT) can easily be conducted and is something fun to do. It is considered to have high utility value in the long-term care prevention and in the functional training for older people.
The purpose of this study was to prove scientifically the effect of GEMT, on the psychiatric aspect. The participants of this study consisted of 20 healthy elderly people, of which 3 were men and 17 being women. Their age ranged from 66 years-old to 86 years-old, with the average age calculated to be 76.3 years-old. Sample saliva was taken from each participant both before and after doing GEMT, and its quantity and endocrine substances were measured. As the result of this analysis, quantity of saliva increased significantly when GEMT was conducted (1350.5±800.98 μl→1786.5±780.54 μl, mean±SD, p＜0.01), and cortisol in saliva showed significant decrease after the exercise (0.19±0.10 μg/dl→0.13±0.07 pg/dl, mean±SD, p＜0.001). However, when comparing pH and chromogranin-A measurements taken both before and after GEMT, no change was observed. Together with this saliva analysis, the survey was also conducted before and after the exercise among 20 participants to collect feedbacks on their changes in feelings and to analyze their mood profiles using the short form of the Profile of Mood States (POMS-SF) evaluation method. The survey result showed significant decrease in fatigue feeling after the exercise (3.63±4.09→2.30±3.13, p≦0.05). These results suggested that GEMT is effective not only in the physical function but also in the psychiatric aspect, providing positive effect in fatigue restoration and in relaxation.
