An Intergenerational Telehealth Music Therapy Group Intervention to Improve Grandparents’ Meaning in life

Abstract

Abstract The lockdown policies in Israel during the COVID-19 pandemic hampered familial grandparents–grandchildren relations. There is initial evidence that older adults’ meaning in life and will-to-live decreased. Grandparents could no longer meet their grandchildren in person. In response, we utilized an intergenerational telehealth music therapy group intervention during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Forty-four pairs of grandparents and grandchildren enrolled in a quasi-experimental study with an intervention and waitlist control group. Twenty-one pairs of grandparents–grandchildren participated in a weekly virtual group music therapy intervention (via Zoom) for 8 weeks (experimental group) and the remainder were waitlisted and received no intervention (control group). Participants in both groups completed the same questionnaires in parallel before and after the intervention. The grandparents’ meaning in life, will-to-live and behavioral grandparenthood increased compared to no change observed in the control group. Further research with randomized-controlled treatment is recommended.